“The (F)art Show” Official Statement by Kenton Brett and David Jarred

“The (F)art Show” is curated by  Golden Brown’s David Jarred and Kenton Brett.  Featured artists include:   Antonio Adams, Joel Armor, Mark Betcher, Emily Brandehoff, Kenton Brett, Golden Brown, Emily Caito, Jared Dreyer, Jen Edwards, Jonathan Hancock, Dave Jarred, CT King, Robert McFate, Bekka Sage, Philip Spangler, Anh Tran, Philip Louis Valois, Joey Versoza, and Carol Watkins. 

You might be asking yourself, “What is the fart show?”  To begin to answer this viscous question I would point to Philip Louis Valois’ “Recettes de Cul Puant.”  In this finely crafted recipe book Valois lists ingredients for dishes that can create exceptional and unique farts. Valois’ book is emblematic of The (F)art Show itself. Ultimately our visual feast was concocted so one could enjoy many incomparable courses in a flavorful buffet which mixes surprising materials with complex ideologies.

Now you may be saying, “Ok, but why fart?” Fartist Emily Brandehoff really answers this question clearly in her bio, “I fart, therefore I am.”  In this show we are striving to make highly conceptual art accessible and stimulating. Since everyone farts there is a common jumping off point for this brilliant group of fartists to play with. From the various artistic forms of installation, sculpture, video, paintings and printed books we have culled together a collection of art that explores the deeply human and even animal connection we all have with farts. From the Neolithic painting of Antonio Adams to the postmodern “fart” insignia of Jared Dreyer, “The (F)art Show” covers a vast territory of human experience and thinking.

These many variations of fart are only appropriate as the influences for the show were so varied and excellent. One can cite Milan Kundera’s Tereza in, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, who cannot bear a fart even during the endless humiliation of the Soviet occupation of Prague, and then juxtapose it with the Japanese He-gassen scrolls of the Edo period, where heroes unabashedly blast enemies with flatulence. These two examples show the profound polarizing attachment farting has in human psychology. This attachment is certainly explored by the many introspective works in the show.  One exceptionally poignant twist on this theme is Jen Edward’s leaded glass work which combines the spiritual and physical in a way that would make Jung blush.

Essentially the artistic variations of “The (F)art Show” explore the idea that every fart is individual and has a meaning specific to its own context. This relativity of a fart suits both Thunder-Sky Inc.’s and Golden Brown Enterprises’ purposes, as these fartworks taken in specific context could be seen as either inflating or deflating art and its pretensions. With all of this relativity, one thing remains certain:  you will never hear or smell a fart in the same way after seeing this show.