Skarstedt Fine Art is pleased to present the 1994 Mark Dion installation When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (Toys ‘R’ U.S.).
Mark Dion has consistently focused his work around how society approaches and understands ‘truth’. Dion’s anti-aesthetic questions the role of the artist as a cultural producer. The process of art-making is at the forefront as we imagine the artist spending hours collecting and hunting objects to assemble low-tech and humorous commentary.
When Dinosuars Ruled the Earth is the second version in Dion’s series Toys ‘R’ U.S.. This installation is a didactic response to the dangerous relationship between the popularization of scientific theories and consumerism. Dion’s observations become more prescient as current debate focuses on the popularity/validity of theories like ‘intelligent design’ while government agencies like the FDA sell policy based on religious and social questions. This work “demonstrates Dion’s compulsion for assembling high-impact arrangements of dozens of identical, mass-produced objects in ways that reveal how their familiarity hides a complex network of questionable agendas” (Lisa Graziose Corrin).
Mark Dion’s exhibition “The Curiosity Shop” is currently on view at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery in New York City. Dion’s other notable exhibitions include “Salon de Chasse”, Musee de la Chasse et de la Nature, Chateau de Chambourd, France (2205), “Memento Mori (My Glass is Run)”, Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT (2005), “Projects 82, Rescue Archeology, A Project for the Museum of Modern Art”, Museum of Modern Art, New York (2004), “”Urban Wildlife Observation Unit”, The Public Art Fund, Madison Square Park, NY (2002), and “Cabinet of Curiosity for the Weisman Art Museum”, Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN.
For further information, please contact +1 212 737 2060 or info@skarstedt.com
Mark Dion has consistently focused his work around how society approaches and understands ‘truth’. Dion’s anti-aesthetic questions the role of the artist as a cultural producer. The process of art-making is at the forefront as we imagine the artist spending hours collecting and hunting objects to assemble low-tech and humorous commentary.
When Dinosuars Ruled the Earth is the second version in Dion’s series Toys ‘R’ U.S.. This installation is a didactic response to the dangerous relationship between the popularization of scientific theories and consumerism. Dion’s observations become more prescient as current debate focuses on the popularity/validity of theories like ‘intelligent design’ while government agencies like the FDA sell policy based on religious and social questions. This work “demonstrates Dion’s compulsion for assembling high-impact arrangements of dozens of identical, mass-produced objects in ways that reveal how their familiarity hides a complex network of questionable agendas” (Lisa Graziose Corrin).
Mark Dion’s exhibition “The Curiosity Shop” is currently on view at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery in New York City. Dion’s other notable exhibitions include “Salon de Chasse”, Musee de la Chasse et de la Nature, Chateau de Chambourd, France (2205), “Memento Mori (My Glass is Run)”, Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT (2005), “Projects 82, Rescue Archeology, A Project for the Museum of Modern Art”, Museum of Modern Art, New York (2004), “”Urban Wildlife Observation Unit”, The Public Art Fund, Madison Square Park, NY (2002), and “Cabinet of Curiosity for the Weisman Art Museum”, Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN.
For further information, please contact +1 212 737 2060 or info@skarstedt.com