Zoomed in photograph of a hot rod car with red and yellow flames licking a black car body. The focus is on the silver jet plane hood ornament.

Populuxe

Populuxe, a term coined by design critic and historian Thomas Hine, merges popular and luxury to reference the over-the-top aesthetics of consumer products in the late 1950s to early 1960s.

Populuxe was visual decadence applied to material objects.  In this exhibition, two contemporary photographers reimagine the Populuxe vision. Sean Sullivan photographs classic cars, delineating them down to the most extraneous, yet eye-catching, details. Steven Duede photographs toy plastic houses stripped of their surroundings and hovering in space. His work evokes the disquieting idea that every house can be a home, but it can also be isolating and artificial, a feeling often applied to the postwar suburbs.

 


Dates: July 30-October 20, 2019
Participating artists: Steven Duede, Sean Sullivan
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Photograph of a model house with red roof, yellow and blue siding, a garage door on the right and entry door on the far left.
Steven Duede, Home 9 , 2017, Fine Art Pigment Print on Hahnemühle Paper
Photograph of a 1950s car tail light, with a bright blue body, angled tail end and jutting out red break lights.
Sean Sullivan, 1959 Cadillac Series 62 , 2016, Archival inkjet print
Photograph of a red convertible car interior with red leather seats, silver metal trim, and red steering wheel.
Sean Sullivan, 1957 Chevrolet Corvette, 2018, Archival inkjet print
Photograph of a model house from an angle looking down at the black roof. The building is modern, with grey walls, blue siding, and a rooftop sun deck on the right with a small figure sitting in one of the blue lawn chairs.
Steven Duede, Home 1, 2017, Fine Art Pigment Print on Hahnemühle Paper