Carmen Hermo: Art that entangles the sublime with the everyday
Carmen Hermo works as the Associate Curator for the Elizabeth A Sackler Center for Feminist Art. For her curation with SHOWFIELDS, she has selected a group of artists who have expansive practices and whose work explores the connection between the personal and the political, our history with our present moment, and the sublime with our everyday
What are your parameters for artist selection?
I essentially imagined an exhibition-like showcase of artists whose work can enhance your surroundings and your mind, by inspiring a shift in perspective through attention to new histories, revealed realities, and literally stunning details. All of the selected artists bring forward an exciting, completely individual insight through their artworks in various media, and though many of the works are tactile and pleasing to the eye, they contain the artist's generous and challenging meaning and intentions. I wanted to highlight artists who are really pushing contemporary art forward.
What kind of artwork is relevant to our generation and the times we are living?
These days, we hear a lot about how certain ideas or narratives are important "now more than ever"-- but that's misleading. Mainstream conversations about justice, representation, and feminism often follow years after the essential paths forged by artists and activists. It's exciting that the mainstream is catching up to these trailblazers! The artists I selected are all trailblazers, in their own ways.
Tell us about this curation for SHOWFIELDS: conceptually, aesthetically, etc.?
I was inspired, as I always am, by the creativity of artists whose work entangles the sublime with the everyday, the personal with the political, and history with our present moment. Representing an array of material, conceptual, and personal approaches, the artists I selected have expansive practices, and the SHOWFIELDS platform allows for direct support for their work and ideas. As someone who is lucky enough to be surrounded by art at work, I feel that living with art is just as important-- allowing it to become a part of your everyday life, as a prompt for introspection, outward action, or to bring beauty into the space you make for yourself and others.
What is your advice for art lovers and appreciators looking to start their own art collections?
Artists and art are an essential part of our everyday ecosystems. It's essential to support artists to support society-- and that can absolutely look like amassing a slow and steady collection of artworks for your home over the years, or researching before buying a whole suite of artworks for a new home. Looking at Showfields and the artists they spotlight, this support can happen on a sliding scale of what is affordable for you: consider supporting artists as part of your annual budget; or collecting affordable and intimate artist books and zines. If you ask me, there is no "splurge" more fulfilling than an artist's work that will inspire reflection and joy for years to come, and exist in conversation with other artworks and memories in your home.
Seek out artists with ideas that resonate in your life, with themes, patterns, or stories that make you think differently, or just take a pause from thinking.
Tell us about this curation for SHOWFIELDS: conceptually, aesthetically, etc.?
I was inspired, as I always am, by the creativity of artists whose work entangles the sublime with the everyday, the personal with the political, and history with our present moment. Representing an array of material, conceptual, and personal approaches, the artists I selected have expansive practices, and the SHOWFIELDS platform allows for direct support for their work and ideas. As someone who is lucky enough to be surrounded by art at work, I feel that living with art is just as important-- allowing it to become a part of your everyday life, as a prompt for introspection, outward action, or to bring beauty into the space you make for yourself and others.