Building on previous work that took the medium of painting to task by creating site-specific, custom-shaped canvases, Ogg’s new work further complicates the idea of customization to encompass its obsessiveness and its excessiveness. The works in this show represent an investment in cultural signifiers—an experiment in combining idealistically opposed symbols. The most recognizable signifiers are those for the psychedelic (tie-dye = expressionistic intellectualism) and for minimal modernist architecture (cubes = academic intellectualism). A generic mirrored effect (stereo, right and left) is applied to works in various mediums: sculpture, drawing, photography, and painting. Further, the mirroring effect is forced onto the gallery itself. Dividing the room in half lengthwise awkwardly attempts to turn anywhere and everywhere into an absurd exercise in achieving balance. The psychoanalytic tool of symmetry turned psychedelic graphic tool becomes an installation/interior design tool. How can you be right when there is always a left?

In “Conscientious Objectifier,” recent art histories have been distilled and rendered generic. As a result, their meaningfulness has been eroded through re-appropriation, not time. This body of work creates a graphic struggle between two opposing styles, expressionism and intellectualism. This is not an attempt to negate, but rather to navigate the post-identity crisis. Ogg visually outlines a belief system that is seemingly simplistic yet creates a void to be filled in by the viewer¹s confusion and doubt. What do we want? Everything. When do we want it? All the time. Each work with its echo in “Conscientious Objectifier” offers more of everything, two for one, all at once.

Cubes = Generic Generic = Modernist architecture Modernist architecture = Minimalism Minimalism = Mirrors Mirrors = Psychedelics Psychedelics = Tie-Dye Tie-Dye = Expressionism Expressionism = Customization Customization = Icicle lights Icicle lights = Drips

Jamisen Ogg received his M.F.A. from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. This is his first solo exhibition with Hudson Franklin.