Bandage for a Bruise
ADDS DONNA
Chicago, IL
exhibition text: Jared Packard views his works as mirrors of imperfect individuals—full of mistakes, self-doubt, overcompensation, and pretension. They are shields, fences, and walls that offer only slim and guarded glimpses into vulnerability and chaos. He uses these works to show viewers the frailty and transparency of his/her/their own attempts at perfection and how these defenses often merely serve to accentuate “the flaw.” In Jared’s world “the flaw” is a queer, HIV-positive one that falls short of norms, expectations, and ideals. This is explored through haphazardly and expressively painted surfaces, often on raw, fleshy canvas, that are left naked and unguarded. Seemingly disparate actions are forced together. Sloppy, sappy surfaces reign. Jared then eliminates a viewer’s ability to fully engage these actions by shoving an aggressive, but wonky grid, a representation of a loosely woven fabric, or a mass of whitewash for example, between us and the painting’s “true” self. The result is a game of hide and seek that offers a level of frustration and pity for these overcompensating messes.
Exhibition Review in NewCity
