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ANDREW CAIN I don’t wanna grow up
300 copies printed ANDREW CAIN I don’t wanna grow up August 24–October 28, 2016
University Art Gallery Department of Art School of the Arts California State University, Stanislaus One University Circle Turlock, CA 95382
This exhibition and catalog have been funded by: Associated Students Instructionally Related Activities, California State University, Stanislaus
Copyright © 2016 California State University, Stanislaus All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the publisher.
Catalog design and production: Brad Peatross, School of the Arts, California State University, Stanislaus Catalog printing: Seegers Print, Turlock, CA Catalog photography: Courtesy of the artist. Photographs included are used under the permission of the artist.
ISBN: 978-1-940753-20-1
CONTE N T S Director’s Foreword. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Artist’s Statement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Essay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Image List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Curriculum Vitae. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
D IRE C TO R ’S FO R E WORD Andrew Cain’s I don’t wanna grow up represents a chance to view his wonderful work. Taken from an incredible love of comics, this exhibition showcases his vibrant understanding of printmaking. In addition to his being a successful professional artist, Cain is also devoted member of our Art Department where he provides support and expertise for all of our members. I would like to thank the many colleagues who have been instrumental in presenting this exhibition: Andrew Cain for the chance of exhibiting his marvelous work; the School of the Arts, California State University, Stanislaus for the catalog design; and Seeger’s Printing for the printing this catalog. Much gratitude is also extended to the Instructionally Related Activates Program of California State University, Stanislaus, as well as anonymous donors for the funding of the exhibition and catalogue. Their support is greatly appreciated.
Dean De Cocker, Director, University Art Gallery California State University, Stanislaus
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ART IS T ’S STAT E M E N T I don’t wanna grow up is a series of work I began after the passing of one my idols in art at the early age of 58. Gordon Bennet’s work affected me in a way that no other artists’ work ever has, and I dedicate this series to his memory. His piece But I Always Wanted to be one of the Good Guys paved my path to find myself as an artist and has invoked in me a personal search for identity through my artwork. I don’t wanna grow up deals with the connections we find in people through personal interest and nostalgia from our childhood. It investigates the innocence of childhood, the ideals and morals of characters that connect us to like-minded individuals, creating bonds that last a lifetime. I created these works with friends, family, and colleagues that share these connections. I hope to create more as the body of work brings people together to reminisce about their favorite childhood memory. My goal in this body of work is to bring a group of strangers together in conversation about their mutual nostalgia, to share their identity, to create bonds between themselves and with the people they entered the room with.
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AND RE W C A I N Despite a fascination with pop culture ciphers, particularly from comics, Andrew Cain’s work has always struck me as deeply sincere. Despite using some of the most recognizable iconography of the past century, the body of work that makes up I don’t wanna grow up comes across as a personal pursuit. The deployment of comic book imagery in other media is by no means new. Since Eduardo Paolozzi’s 1947 work I was a Rich Man’s Plaything, comic books have been mined for their strident aesthetics and their sometimes primitive, often complex imbrications of image and text. But despite most art history textbooks, art ‘borrowing’ from comics was not actually the first exchange between the two then-separate forms. Comics, largely free from any expectations or constraints associated with Modernist ideologies (despite actually being inherently Modernist), played fast and loose with appropriation and satire and were making fine art pastiche and in-jokes long before Paolozzi. George Herriman’s Krazy Kat comic strip, which ran in various formats and incarnations from 1910 to 1944, and often thumbed its nose at, referenced, and paid tribute to various art movements of the day, most notably surrealism. And Herriman was not alone in this conversation. It is in the blurring of personal and universal, of homage and appropriation, that I see Cain’s work really operating. There is still, decades on from Lichtenstein’s Russ Heath and John Romita appropriations, the occasional cry of foul play from cartoonists. A warbling, revisionist postmodern critique of rich artists who ‘stole’ from poor cartoonists, and continued to benefit. But as established in the USA as early as the 1970s, in the work of underground cartoonists like Spain, Robert Crumb and Gilbert Shelton, the high/low divide was flimsy at best. Indeed, in France and Japan, there was never such a rigid barrier between comics and high art—it was considered merely another form. Cain’s work fits in with this attitude. It is appropriating, but at the same time reconfiguring itself not to comment upon form or ideology, but rather the personal. As Cain’s statement attests, he has begun to incorporate a collaborative element with other friends and family who somehow share this connection. Cain isn’t using comics because they’re cool or hip or to comment on the vulgarity of pop culture or whatever. He is using them because he loves them. The still too common assumption that comics have to be one or the other and are simple enough to be read that way is a reductive mistake. Cain cites the death of Australian artist Gordon Bennett as the catalyst for this exhibition. Bennett was an artist of Aboriginal, Scottish and English descent and used art as a way of investigating and dissecting this supposed contradiction of identity. Bennett himself was uncomfortable being cast as a spokesman for indigenous artists and approached his own artistic practice, which regularly featured appropriation of both indigenous and non-indigenous Australian art as well as international art, often melded into a single image, decades ahead of remix culture. Bennett himself refused to walk the beaten track, using Postmodernism rather as a way of better challenging the cultural norms of contemporary Australia, a place of long-standing and unresolved tensions between both race and class, and broke ground ahead of the urban indigenous artists that dominate the contemporary Australian art market today. Like Bennett, many of these artists studied at the Queensland College of Art, the institution Cain enjoyed a lengthy stint of studies. Sadly, Bennett died in 2014 at 58, and despite his high standing nationally, it seems that the continuing and significant repercussions of his practice are only now being realized.
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I don’t wanna grow up marks an interesting point in Cain’s artistic career. Not only has he seemingly resolved any perceived tension between his various artistic tendencies (most noticeably represented here in printmaking, sculpture and a kind of compromised, disintegrated form of collage), but he has also come to a peaceful (or, at least, less intense) aesthetic endpoint. Much of Cain’s previous work exhibits a frenetic and sometimes dark energy. Deep skeins of cross-hatching, reworked passages formed with impenetrable layers of ink, paint and graphite, with peace made through the act, rather the image itself. Here, Cain has made considerations of composition, echoing the grid-forms of comics to create screen-printed base layers (complete with sorry-not-sorry misregistration, a wonderful byproduct of the print processes of early comics). Some of the greats peep through (Byrne, Bolland and Kirby are easily spotted). Each work is accompanied by a cutout of a small child, some of whom appear to be Cain himself, reigning in the cool factor and grounding it in the personal, the autobiography, and the sincere. The resin head sculptures perhaps point to the future, shimmering amorphous forms that have engulfed the comic book graphics within. Cain is clearly in conversation with loved ones past and present, a visual communion of sorts, and as ever, I look forward to his next body of work.
Dr Jonathan McBurnie Director, Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts
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IMAGE S LI ST 1.
Along Came A Spider, screen-print and digital print, 2015
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Cell Mate, screen-print and digital print, 2015
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Crawling Through The Night, screen-print and digital print, 2015
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Even In Death May You Be Triumphant, screen-print and digital print, 2016
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I Always Wanted To Be The Bad Guy, Fuck Em, screen-print and digital print, 2015
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Kick it Like Kung Fu, 2016
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Let It Out, screen-print and digital print, 2015
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Not Another Knight, screen-print and digital print, 2015
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Pick Your Poison, screen-print and digital print, 2016
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She Rises From The Ashes Everyday, screen-print and digital print, 2015
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The Blind Leader Of Faith, screen-print and digital print, 2015
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The Legend Continues, screen-print and digital print, 2015
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The Man Of Courage, screen-print and digital print, 2015
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The Ultra Ultra Man, screen-print and digital print, 2015
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The Wonder Of A Woman From The Amazon, screen-print and digital print, 2015
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Thunder Strikes Where He Is Found, screen-print and digital print, 2015
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Fucking Brother, screen-print and digital print, 2015
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Brotherly Love, screen-print and digital print, 2015
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Idol Of Demise, resin, comic book pages and spray-paint, 2016
20. Idol Of Devotion, resin and comic book pages, 2016 21.
Idol of Sacrifice. Idol Of Devotion, resin and comic book pages, 2016
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AND RE W C A I N CV Education: Griffith University: Bachelors of Fine Art Major: Printmaking with an emphasis in Drawing and Art Theory 2008–2009 Modesto Junior College: General education with an emphasis in Fine Art. 2003–2007 Exhibitions: Solo: 2011 2011 2011 2010 2009 Group: 2015 2014 2014 2014 2012 2012 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2010 2010 2010 2010 2009 2009 2009 2009 2009 2009 2009 2008–10 2008 2008 2005
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MEZO, Stockton, CA J and R Tacos, Merced Art Hop, Merced, CA Crow Trading, Modesto Art Walk, Modesto, CA Up and Over Exhibition, Waterford St. Gallery, QLD, AUS Constructed, Project Gallery, QLD, AUS Inspired, Art Space on Main, Turlock CA Space Invader #1, Modesto CA Festival of Lights, Turlock, CA California Centered Printmaking, Merced, CA I Can See Clearly Now, Sun Gallery, Hayward, CA American Heart Association Central Valley Heart Ball, The Grand, Fresno, CA International World Mini Print Expo, Modesto Art Museum, Modesto, CA Taste of McHenry Village, Modesto CA Homecoming, SGLC, Sacramento, CA Revel, Sacramento Gay and Lesbian Center, Sacramento, CA Watch this Space, Online exhibition, Facebook California Centered Printmaking Show, Merced Multicultural Art Center, Merced, CA American Heart Association Central Valley Heart Ball, Selected Artist for Auction UC Merced Library, Bobcat Family art show, Merced, CA State Theater, Modesto Art Walk, Modesto, CA ArtsAlive art competition and exhibition, Merced Multicultural Art Center, Merced, CA, USA Lessedra World Mini Print Exhibition, Lessedra Glallery, Bulgaria Emperors Cloth Gallery, Brisbane QLD, AUS Brisbane Emerging Artist Festival (BEAF), Fortitude Valley, QLD, AUS Emperors Cloth Gallery, Brisbane QLD, AUS Vegasspray.com works on paper, virtual gallery, Brisbane, QLD, AUS QCA Graduate Show, QCA, Brisbane, QLD, AUS First Draw, Art Factory, Brisbane, QLD, Aus Art Auction, QCA White Box, Brisbane, QLD, AUS Beat exhibition, Bleeding Hearts Gallery, Brisbane, QLD, AUS Affordable Art Sale, QCA White Box, Brisbane QLD, AUS 12x12x12 exhibition, Dell Gallery, Brisbane QLD, AUS First year exhibition, QCA, Brisbane QLD, AUS Under the Bed Exhibition, Project Gallery, Brisbane QLD, AUS Modesto Junior College student exhibition, MJC Gallery, Modesto, CA, USA
Commissions: 2014 Drawing, Margret Ritchie, Turlock Ca 2010 Figures, Oil Paintings, Rachel Walker, Everton Park, QLD, AUS 2007 Fremont Elementary Mural Restoration, Modesto, CA 2006, Family pet, Ashley Van Trease 2004–06 Set Design for Pinnacle Designs 2003 West Coast Customs, Drawing Competition, Modesto, CA Publications: 2011 Modesto View 2011 Revel Newletter 2011 Central Valley Heart Ball Catalogue 2011 Harvests of New Millennium (VOLUME 4 NUMBER 1) 2010 QCA Graduate Catalogue 2010 Lessedra mini print catalogue Collections: Redland Art Gallery, Cleveland, QLD, AUS QCA Printmakers club, Brisbane, QLD, AUS Magnani Paper, Melbourne, VIC, AUS Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD, AUS Memberships: American Alliance of Museums 2014–Current Modesto Art Museum: 2010–Current QCA Printmakers club member: 2008–Current Art workers Alliance: 2008–2010 IMA Member: 2008–2010 MJC Fine Art Club President: 2006–2007 National Art Honors Society: 2002–2003 Professional Activities: 2015 Current Director of Photography at The Horrific Network 2016 Current Cohost of The Campfire Chronicles 2014–15 Executive Director Modesto Art Museum, Modesto, CA 2013–16 CSU Stanislaus, Studio Technician I, Turlock, CA 2011–14 Modesto Art Museum Board of Directors, exhibition coordinator 2010–16 Works on Paper Curator, and Printmaking Online, http://www.redbubble.com/groups/works-on-paper 2011 Conjuitos, Public art project, J and R tacos, Arts Sunday, Merced, Ca 2010 Modesto Art Museum, Art Liaison 2010 Arts Alive art competition, Honorable mention, Merced, CA 2010 Assistant Teacher, Joshibi Students Workshop, Glasshouse Mountains, QLD, AUS 2009 Coordinator &Teacher, Printmaking workshop, QCA, Brisbane, QLD 2009 Volunteer, Technician, Teaching assistant, Brisbane State High School, Brisbane, QLD 2009 Volunteer, Instillation crew, IMA, Brisbane QLD 2008–09 Volunteer, IMA, Brisbane, QLD 2008 Volunteer, Guernica in Sand Project with Lee Mingwei, GOMA, Brisbane QLD 2007 Restoration of Fremont Elementary School Mural, Modesto, CA 2006 Volunteer, Gallery operations assistant, Modesto Junior College, Modesto, CA
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AC K NOW LE D GE M E N TS California State University, Stanislaus
Dr. Ellen Junn, President
Dr. James T. Strong, Provost/Vice President of Academic Affairs
Dr. James A. Tuedio, Dean, College of the Ar ts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Depar tment of Ar t
Dr. Roxanne Robbin, Chair, Professor
Dean De Cocker, Professor
Jessica Gomula, Associate Professor
David Olivant, Professor
Gordon Senior, Professor
Richard Savini, Professor
Daniel Edwards, Assistant Professor
Dr. Staci Scheiwiller, Assistant Professor
Meg Broderick, Administrative Suppor t Assistant II
Andrew Cain, Instructional Technician I
Jon Kithcar t, Equipment Technician II
University Ar t Gallery
Dean De Cocker, Director
Nikki Boudreau, Gallery Assistant
Special Thanks
Dean De Cocker and CSU Stanislaus for giving me the oppor tunity to show my work.
To my wife Jordan Cain for all her love and suppor t and pushing me to pursue my passions.
To Flora Galbraith for giving me the oppor tunity to study and for the love she’s always giving me.
To everybody involved in my series, thank you for sharing your stories and your love of not wanting to grow up.
To Johnathan McBurnie for his awesome writing skills and coming through in a pinch.
And to all the faculty, staff and students of the Stanislaus State Ar t Depar tment, you inspire me.
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