Facebook Famous

By Jennifer Storm
Contributing Writer

Our culture is characterized by a heavy emphasis on imagery and iconography. From television to billboards, magazines to Facebook, individuals are transformed into icons which exert an influence far more powerful than the mere scope of the single person.

The Plains Art Museum’s current collection, “Individual to Icon: Portraits of the Famous and Almost Famous from Folk Art to Facebook,” presents the question of how and why people and pictures are raised to an iconic status.

The exhibit reverberates strongly with the young. The prevalence of circulating media images strongly influences how we develop our viewpoints of the world. With a vast array of resources at our fingertips, icons are impossible to avoid. From the covers of teen magazines to the names etched on the labels of our jeans, iconic influences formulate our definition of society.

The exhibit features the work of Annie Leibovitz, Christopher Baker, Scott Seekins, Todd Severson, Modern Man, and Zhimin Guan, among many others. Each artist brings their own unique perception of what they believe transforms an individual into an icon.

I was struck by the work of Todd Severson, a contributing artist with studios in both Minnesota and Germany.  His signature piece, entitled Vita Navis, displays hundreds of small individual portraits.  The vibrant, energetic compilation seized my initial attention with its lively colors and sheer sprawling size.

“There is an underlying idea which is a concept which is a little bit exaggerated. It would catch my attention during an interview with a young rock band or artist that when they’d ask them who their heroes were, they would always name two or three. This always disappointed me, it seemed so incomplete because I wanted to hear a list of 10, 15 or 25,” said Severson.

Quickly sketched with acrylic paint on pieces of found metal, the body of work is splashed across the wall of the third floor display room in the shape of a cargo ship. The primary significance of the ship, Severson says, is to serve as metaphor of how the people have been transformed.  The people themselves serve to exemplify and transport certain ideas.

“The object travels from one place to another, so it’s not really here or there. The paintings aren’t really here, they’re not really portraits; they’re images more about memory and recognition than about what a portrait should be. I try and throw out all the traditional characteristics [of a portrait] such as pose, drama, power. It almost disrespects that,” said Severson.

Severson believes there is merit in the mere recognition of these individuals. While the individuals portrayed are particular to his own influence, their scope is global. The wealth of individuals displayed was impressive; the Dalai Lama had taken his spot next to Jesus, Stephen Colbert had claimed his personalized corner spot, Frida Khalo and Emerson were wedged amongst other notable and not so notable figureheads.

“They are all well known in most circles… it’s kind of a global thing…I’m not into trying to find some diaphanous connection but sometimes I’ll put them down and there is a relationship there I never realized,” said Severson.

As I meandered through the exhibit, I was struck by the capability a simple photograph had to turn a person from merely a single individual into something greater.  Each picture made me ponder what trait each person possessed—or didn’t possess—which compelled the artist to paint them.

The work of Zhimin Guan seemed to illustrate this especially.  His individual portraits stood out starkly from the metal backgrounds on which they were painted.

“When I think of metal I think of technology, elevators, cars, buildings. I use the setting from an elevator because the cool industrial material creates tension between the beauty with a very harsh non-emotional surface,” said Gaun.

How does portraiture create icons and how do icons affect us? Each person possesses a capacity to influence others on some varying level of thought. Icons present a theme or an idea, something more than the actual person portrayed.

Questions and comments: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

If You Go

What: Individual to Icon
Where: Plains Art Museum
When: Through Aug 15
How Much: Free to $5, http://www.plainsart.org