John Connelly Presents is pleased to announce Scott Hug’s second solo exhibition at the gallery, Million Dollar Spit in the Ocean. In this exhibition Hug continues his critical assessments of contemporary consumer culture through a process that dissects our obsessions with public opinion. These new works present us with a curious truth; we often rely on an abstract interpretation of data and surface images to construct our understanding of the world around us, forgoing personal experience.

The works in this exhibition are based on pie charts derived from information provided by Gallup.com polls, a popular method for determining current nation-wide sentiments and opinions.

Hug interprets these surveys in three different media. He has translated some of the found data into Color-aid pie charts applied directly over the center of pages from National Geographic magazine. Developed in 1948, Color-aid was initially designed as a backdrop for photographers, it was soon discovered by Josef Albers and has since then been a traditional media for modernist color theory. Hug’s act of superimposing these charts over the often iconic images from National Geographic, underlines our distance from the “natural world” and the ubiquity of data once removed from its original context. His gesture seems to negate the image of “nature” as presented by the “adventure” periodical made for armchair explorers.

Hug will also present four large-scale color field paintings shaded according to fashion forecast AW09/10 trends – casual, chic, classic. The result underscores that the contemporary business graphs have become an object of glamour that many adhere to, study, and follow with near-religious fervor, resembling mandalas and secret signs.

In addition to these works Hug has combined 360 of his collage studies into an endlessly running computer program that randomizes the images into a shuffle – pausing for a moment here and there only to keep moving on, endlessly searching for the next contemporary moment.

Hug’s exhibition is illustrative of how our fascination with real-time interpretation of statistics has become more important than deep analysis – as soon as a survey is made it is already reduced to an aesthetic, only to be replaced by a new interpretation of data the next day. The obsession with abstract information is often more palatable than a discussion that addresses the original question, not just the answer. It’s just business.

Scott Hug received his BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a Masters in communication design from Pratt Institute. Hug’s work has been featured at John Connelly Presents, Deitch Projects, D’Amelio Terras, Elizabeth Dee, and The Kitchen in New York. He has had solo shows of collaborative work made with artist Michael Magnan at John Connelly Presents and Hiromi Yoshii Gallery, Tokyo, Japan. His work has been reviewed in the New York Times and has appeared in the New Art Examiner and Zingmagazine. He was awarded a Rema Hort Mann grant in 2004.