November 6 – December 7, 2015
Make No Loud Noise is a solo exhibition by artist, educator, and cultural worker Pato Hebert. Several central works anchor the show. “51 Synonyms for Oscillate” takes the form of a word search consisting of dozens of mirrored acrylic letters that contain multiple, hidden variations on the experience of oscillating. In 2014, Hebert began a series of performance-based photographs entitled “In, If Not Always Of.” The mirrored Oscillator figure featured in this work appears in various landscapes, often upending any strict distinction between self and context as the figure’s contours become indistinguishable from its surroundings. This series now consists of nearly 70 images, seven of which are presented here together for the first time. A third large work features a large grid of photographs portraying the feet of delates attending the International AIDS Conference held in Melbourne, Australia, in 2014. Taken together, these images demonstrate the sheer volume and flow of traffic, while individually the photographs underscore the personality, culture or purpose of specific delegates. In these and other works, Hebert exhibits a sustained interest in the aesthetics, ethics, and poetics of interconnectedness.
Hebert is the third artist exhibited in the String Room Gallery to be supported by the college’s recently established Scholar In Residence program. During his time on campus, he has worked with students to create two collaborative works, one of which is included in this exhibition. Following his visit to campus and several workshops with students, he will produce a site-responsive work to be installed in the Louis Jefferson Long Library in early December.
Hebert’s recent projects have been presented at Beton7 in Athens, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb, the Kunsthal Charlottenborg in Copenhagen, and The Glass Studio at The Chrysler Museum in Norfolk. In July he was an artist-in-residence with the Neighborhood Time Exchange project in West Philadelphia. Hebert’s work has been supported by grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Creative Work Fund, the National Education Association and a Mid-Career Fellowship for Visual Artists from the California Community Foundation. In 2008 he received the Excellence in Photographic Teaching Award from Center in Santa Fe. He teaches as an Associate Arts Professor in the Art and Public Policy Department at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. He has also worked in community-based HIV prevention initiatives with queer communities of color since 1994. He continues this grassroots work through his current projects with the Global Forum on MSM & HIV (MSMGF), where he helps to develop innovative international approaches to community mobilization and advocacy.
Image: The Oscillator in Tualitin Hills Nature Park, from the ongoing series In, If Not Quite Of. 2014.
