1. Why “farts”?

A: The fart is a great metaphor for the conceptual side of art making. Like creating a piece of art it all starts out as something personal and invisible inside of the artist. Then it is time for the “concept” to manifest itself in the physical world in ways that often surprise even the creator. This show shares a basic commonality with most art shows in that it is an exhibition of artists trying to make the invisible world inside of them visible to the outside world.

2. What’s the primary inspiration?

A: As with most things these days it all started on Facebook. Bill Ross reposted an article on a sculpture by Chinese artist Chen Wenling entitled “What You See Might Not Be Real”. The article included a picture of the sculpture. It is basically a bull using a fart to propel himself, horns first, into the ass of a wall street trader pinning the trader to the wall of the gallery. I found the use of a fart as a symbol of strength to be fascinating in its contradiction to my own personal experience where farting is either only humorous or shameful. This led Bill Ross, Keith Banner, and I on a thread of article and image sharing. This research uncovered a lot thought provoking uses of fart in a large variety of cultures; from the gaseous displays of strength and power of ancient Japanese fart scrolls to the humanizing farts of Kundera’s Unbearable Lightness of Being and the Innu folk character Fartman (known as Matshishkapeu). It became very clear to us that this could be a really versatile topic for a show.

3. Is this show a parody of the art world? If so, why? If not, why?

A: Honestly the art world already parodies itself. This show has some real artistic merit in stretching the idea of art and art making to be more inclusive and democratic. What it all boils down to is that everyone in the world farts in their own unique and personal way and every fart is an echo of our own shared humanity. Really what will be the most surprising part of this show for the public is that we have put together a group of artists that take their craft and content very seriously and are producing very imaginative and well made work.This show will put (f)art into a new context for anyone daring enough to let their guard down.

4. What is Golden Brown?

A: You might remember Golden Brown Enterprises from their hyper-colored dancing animals in the interactive video “Dance Madness”at last years ArtWorks Box truck Carnival event held during the Midpoint Music Festival. Golden Brown is the collaborative art duo of Kenton Brett and David Jarred and they specialize in finding ways to liven up art through their well crafted videos, installations, and live performances. Now the Duo can add exhibition curating to their list of artistic merrymaking.