Mark Mann Exhibition: Are We There Yet?

Laurence Miller Gallery Exhibition Oct 16 - Nov 26, 2003

Mark Mann Are We There Yet?

On October 16, 2003, Laurence Miller Gallery will open Are We There Yet?, Mark Mann’s second installment of fantasy pictures based on 1960’s and 1970’s vintage postcards. This new show extends the disquieting nostalgia of his earlier exhibition, Wish You Were Here, in which the promise of fun and recreation is constantly being thwarted by some unseen, yet always suggested, eeriness.

The stuff of family vacation provides the context for Mark Mann’s pictures, depicting intrepid suburbanites as they make their way onto the highways and byways of America. These travelers call to mind summer migrations -- families on the move -- in search of some unspoken ideal, be it beauty or fun or excitement. Along the way they end up in generic motel rooms (Waiting Room, 2003) or banal tourist attractions (Log Jam, 2002) or on a journey to who knows where (Long Highway, 2003). With more than a bit of irony, when the elusive Mecca is finally reached, it, too, is nothing more than a low-rent motel.

Yet despite their allusions to a bygone era, these pictures are ironically modern in vision and feeling. Mann uses digital technology to compose and print his pictures, and displaces the nostalgic postcard imagery with layers of mystery and humor, sort of a visualization of Bill Bryson meets the Twilight Zone.

Mark Mann’s work is in the permanent collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Norton Museum in West Palm Beach, the Progressive Corporation and numerous private collections. more artist information

All artworks are mounted to aluminum with front UV lamination.

(click image for detail view)