For his second solo exhibition in New York, Geof Oppenheimer continues to investigate the relationship between politics and symbols, the ways in which political beliefs are encoded in the media and, more importantly, in everyday life.

Invisible Hand, a term first coined by the 18th century philosopher and economist Adam Smith, refers to the role of unseen forces to dictate outcomes in complex systems. Whether these forces are spiritual or political, they function within the establishment and ultimately affect our subconscious.

Oppenheimer uses the language of high modernism to correlate ideology and economics with objects in the Mason Dixon Lines, a three-dimensional neon portrait of Alan Greenspan and a zinc crate mannered after David Smith and meticulously crafted out of recycled bandanas and jeans. The Mason-Dixon Line, which was the arbitrary geographical line that defined the Civil War, is a prime example of imposed binaries in American culture.

The Washington Color Field School, the three channel video installation is influenced by the art historical movement of the 1960’s that was originally characterized by abstract canvases painted with large areas of solid color. Using congressional testimony taken from C-SPAN for this re-enactment, Oppenheimer breaks down the movements frame by frame so that each individual gesture is emptied of meaning. Pointing to the theater of politics, the ensuing result is a deep analysis of how actions are ritualized and subsequently interpreted.

Looking for the physical manifestations of the invisible hand in the cultural materials of the world around him, Oppenheimer chooses an approach that subverts the traditions of formal sculpture to interrogate reactionary American values.

Recent exhibitions include The Gold Standard at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, and On the Road Again: Beat Culture, Bush Era at the Rena Bransten Gallery in San Francisco, CA. Exhibitions projected for 2008 include Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago.