It's Not What It Is.
September 7th - October 7th, 2023
It’s Not What It Is presents a body of paintings and sculptures by Joe Tuggle Lacina that explores the intersection of contemporary mythology, ontological inquiry, and the destabilizing effects of emerging technologies. Drawing from a diverse semiotic landscape—ranging from Heraclitean philosophy and the Anthropic Principle to the visual vernacular of comic books and video games—Lacina’s work examines the fluid boundary between cosmic introspection and tangible vulnerability.
The exhibition engages with the "spatial concepts" of Lucio Fontana, utilizing humor and layered abstraction to challenge conventional perceptions of reality and language. Through the use of ambiguous text and obscured agency, Lacina’s compositions act as vessels for navigating the paradoxes of the digital age, specifically the shifting hierarchies prompted by AI, NFTs, and social media. Ultimately, the collection invites a critical re-evaluation of the human condition, framing existence as a precarious balance between harmonious design and perpetual flux.
PRESS:
Allison Moore, “Grinnell artist Joe Tuggle Lacina breaks convention with new exhibit “It’s Not What It Is,” S & B, September 18, 2023, https://thesandb.com/43644/arts/grinnell-artist-joe-tuggle-lacina-breaks-convention-with-new-exhibit-its-not-what-it-is/
Peggy Elliott, “Show of works by Tuggle Lacina opening in Stewart Gallery,” Grinnell Herald Register, August 28, 2023, https://www.joetugglelacina.com/ghr_its_not23
It's Not What It Is compiles works that fit into my broader artistic practice as described below:
My work investigates identity, ecological entanglements, and the emergent roles of new technologies. Using a variety of materials, I create paintings and sculptures that question our relationship to our environment, new technologies (such as AI, social media, and industrial automation), and how these relationships shape our conceptions of self and society. I explore possible worlds where climate change, ecological degradation, and artificial intelligence take center stage and then filter these topics through an internal landscape or lens of awe, personal narratives, and dreams. My work is embedded with an inherent questioning of humanity, discord, and balance in society. I use symbols and abstractions as a device to open a dialogue between the artist and viewer and the artist and the outside world.
Foundational to my work is an expression of self, the studio practice, and the dialogue between my worldview and significant artists of the past. My central method of making focuses on thinking with material and is process-driven and open to improvisation. I typically work on several pieces at once to develop an art-ecosystem. I deconstruct and fragment works to incorporate them into others with the goal of generating new and unexpected juxtapositions. Each work tells a story within the layers of material culminating in narrative or existing in the realms of abstraction.
An Instance of Invulnerability Talisman Painting. Acrylic on panel. 55" x 75". 2023
Description: An Instance of Invulnerability Talisman Painting
An Instance of Invulnerability Talisman Painting is an acrylic painting on textured brick panel (shaped-canvas) and is an expanded second iteration of the painting Terminal Error with Nacho Cheese.
This piece has several layers of symbols and possible interpretations. An abstracted drawing of the superhero character Wolverine represents the complex and often fictitious representation of ideal masculinity within cultural mythologies. A nod to an art historical reference to Lucio Fantana’s punctured canvases, the potential of breaking through the resistance of a mental canvases, and shaking free of our psyches’ blockages in an attempt to find silence, light, chaos, and the infinite.
Additionally, when a PC computer crashes it displays an alluring blue, a.k.a: BSoD, Blue Screen of Death, stop error, or blue screen error. This piece also references Ferdinand de Saussure’s semiotics, using a section of a brick wall to signify structure or institution. The bricks are painted blue and are made of an artificial material (mdf), suggesting a multitude of subjective signs or meanings. The top layer of nacho cheese serves as a jest and a personal jab at myself for the absurd thought that my painting could assist in solving a societal issue or even approach constructive dialogue. However, all of my works fall in the category of non-objective art and are open to interpretation.
An Instance of Vulnerability Talisman Painting. Acrylic on panel. 55" x 84". 2023
Description: An Instance of Vulnerability Talisman Painting
An Instance of Vulnerability Talisman Painting is an acrylic painting on panel (shaped-canvas). Similar to An Instance of Invulnerability Talisman Painting This piece has several layers of symbols and possible interpretations. The paint color entitled “Sharp Cheddar” further, yet somewhat absurdly, reconnects the conceptual linkages. Also present is a cursor, a visible and moving pointer that the user controls with a mouse, touchpad or similar input device, a reference to how art in the age of the internet is primarily viewed and understood as jpegs. This piece poses the question: where does the art lie?
IT’S NOT WHAT IT IS COLLECTION:
#1. Siblings of the Cosmic Divide. Mixed Media. 84" x 60" x 36". 2023
Installation view.
#2. Vitality Damage. Acrylic on Panel. 48” x 60”. 2020
#3. Mixing Up the Perfect Purple. Paper, PLA, and Acrylic on Panel. 60” x 48”. 2023
#4. Turtles. Acrylic on Panel. 60” x 48”. 2022
#5. Sand Eye. Sand, Glue, and Acrylic on Panel. 60” x 48”. 2023
#6. An Instance of Invulnerability Talisman Painting. Acrylic on panel. 55" x 75". 2023
#7. An Instance of Vulnerability Talisman Painting. Acrylic on panel. 55" x 84". 2023
SAMPLER PACK COLLECTION:
#8. Concrete Mind. Mixed Media. 19" x 14". 2021
#9. Sampler Pack. Mixed Media. 48” x 60”. 2023
#10. Land Movement. Mixed Media. 12” x 9” 2023
#11. BSoD with Nacho Cheese. Acrylic on Panel. 18” x 18” 2022
Description: Terminal Error with Nacho Cheese
Terminal Error with Nacho Cheese is an acrylic painting on textured brick panel. On occasion, I enjoy eating nachos and playing PC computer games. Sometimes the PC computer crashes and it will display an alluring blue, a.k.a: BSoD, Blue Screen of Death, stop error, or blue screen error. This piece also references Ferdinand de Saussure’s semiotics, using a section of a brick wall to signify structure or institution. The bricks are painted blue and are made of an artificial material (mdf), suggesting a multitude of subjective signs or meanings. Similarly, to An Instance of Invulnerability Talisman Painting (image and description above), top layer of nacho cheese serves as a jest and a personal jab at myself for the absurd thought that my painting could assist in solving a societal issue or even approach constructive dialogue.
#12. Nugget. Mixed Media. 16” x 7” 2023
#13. Bark & Smile. 12” x 12” 2023
#14. Novel AI. Mixed Media. 16" x 14". 2021
Description: Novel AI
Novel AI is a mixed media painting composed of a deconstructed toy robot, aluminum serving tray, decorative oval frame, paint, sand, and glue. I have been adding to this piece since undergraduate college in 2007. The inspiration for this work was Ray Kurzweil’s concept of the technological singularity: a hypothetical point in time at which technological growth becomes uncontrollable and irreversible, resulting in unforeseeable changes to human civilization. In the piece, I address my feelings of ignorance and childlike wonder at the implications of singularity, knowing that when/if it occurs, it will be beyond my human conception and understanding.
#15. Forage. Acrylic, 3D-printed PLA, hardware cloth, sand, glitter on Board. 12.5"x 9.5". 2020
Description: Forage
Forage is a mixed media painting composed of a text painting purchased from Menards, hardware cloth, a 3D-printed component, paint, glue, and sand. The Menards painting was initially included in Of Life (image and description above), and serves as the canvas. The layering of material within the piece has unexpected effects. This piece was inspired by a personal recurring dream of sand emanating from a structure in fractals. The piece is an experiment in the use of unusual materials, such as hardware cloth, and the juxtaposition of 3D-printed and traditional elements. The work is purely process-driven, not inspired by or arriving at meaning or narrative.
#16. Traveling by Night. Mixed Media. 26” x 28”. 2023
#17. Serene Omni Bear at the NightClub. Mixed Media. 18" x 18". 2021
#18. Craters & Paint. Mixed Media. 10” x 10”. 2022
#19. Wood & Party Wire, Orange. Mixed Media, Plywood, screws, EL Wire. 11” x 11”. 2023
#20. Black Brick with Blue Mortar. Acrylic on Panel. 25” x 26”. 2023
#21. Wood & Party Wire, Blue. Mixed Media, Plywood, screws, EL Wire. 22” x 20”. 2023
#22. Green Pow. Mixed Media. 18” x 18”. 2023
#23. Letting Go. Mixed Media. 13” x 11”. 2023
#24. A Long Thought. Mixed Media. 12” x 12”. 2023
#25. Yellow Brick. Acrylic on Panel. 48” x 48”. 2023
#26. Summer Rain. Acrylic and Sand on Foam. 18.5" x 12". 2020
#27. Splat!. Mixed Media. 21" x 17". 2021
Description: Splat!
Splat! is a mixed media painting that incorporates unusual materials such as bark from a tree felled by the 2020 derecho that devastated large parts of Iowa, laser-cut plexiglass, and play-sand. Humor is an important element to my work and in this piece in particular. I vent frustration and sort through concepts and emotions while making art. After the derecho I felt overwhelmed by the clean-up of the fallen trees and the list of essential repairs to damaged structures, in addition to the destabilizing effects of personal loss and the COVID-19 pandemic. This piece was a way to vent, add a bit of extra levity to my usual therapeutic process.
#28. Terminal Error Mask. Acrylic and Sand on Foam. 14" x 12" 2022
Description: Terminal Error Mask
Terminal Error Mask is a painting composed of foam, sand, and acrylic paint. The central concepts of this piece are masking rules, social pressures, and human connection. The painting represents a full face mask in shape, in which the eyes of the face are read as both eyes and figures holding hands. During the height of the pandemic, mask-wearing became a social signal in an environment of general social isolation. This piece addresses the need for connection and the absurdity of anti-mask disinformation.
