David Ford’s multimedia installation White Like Me incorporates the florid magic realism of his large-scale paintings, the incisive wit of his photography, and the unpredictability of his performance art. Against a backdrop of fantastical images of celebrity egomania/delusion — Tom Cruise gazing longingly at the night sky, for instance — and an architectural installation evoking the quaint vacuousness of mainstream American culture, Ford deploys a troop of “performers” acting as a militia. The piece’s many contradictions combine to illustrate the plight of the skeptical patriot in political dismay.

—Shana Nys Dambrot, Flavorpill

Occupying the entire front gallery, Ford’s show of paintings, photographs, and sculptures will continue his interest in revealing the cultural juxtapositions that animate and manipulate politics, ideology and psychology in America today—themes which will in turn be activated by a local militia operating in security mode within the gallery.

WHITE LIKE ME will feature 10 of Fords works, which were manifested from his time at the Art Omi International residency. These works reflect the elaboration of concepts and soft performance developed during the course of last year. Inspired by the international community of artists at Omi, Ford began working with national symbols to examine the conflicting feelings of patriotism that remain in this cynical age. In WHITE LIKE ME, he expands up this idea, using diverse media and performance elements to confront complex cultural situations from a multiplicity of angles. Contemporary images of Mecca and wind-driven flags are forced into dialogue with the live military guard, blurring artistic mediums and destabilizing the distribution of power within the gallery.

A self-taught artist, Ford has been exploring the painterly in everyday contexts for over 20 years, incorporating diverse ideas of beauty culled from his travels in non-European societies and a discordant, political humor. Ford’s deliberately rough technique and visually ornate imagery lends a folkloric air to compositions and collages of deities and corporate logos, dreamy landscapes and catch phrases that implicate the viewer in a collective search for meaning. His work has been shown nationally and internationally, with solo shows in Kansas City, MO and Mexico, and inclusion in this year’s Bridge Art Fair in Miami. He has received awards from the prestigious Creative Capital Foundation, The Charlotte Street Foundation and the Tanne Foundation, studio support from Review, Inc., and inclusion in the juried New American Paintings publication.

In addition to paintings and sculptures, Ford is known for directing immersive performance installations that draw equally from traditional celebrations such as religious rituals and Mardi Gras parades, and current event scenarios of secret prisons and heightened security measures. These performances have become new rituals in their own right, connecting an artistic community and initiating collaborations with clergymen, exotic dancers, marching bands, Mayan Indians and a demolition derby. New Yorkers got a preview of Ford’s “activated” installations this past September when he and twenty-four co-conspirators took over Jack the Pelican Presents to stage Maximon, a participatory spectacle honoring the Mayan god of vice—a happening that has become an underground tradition in Kansas City since 2001.