Photo courtesy istrockphoto.com

"…Poshlust is not only the obviously trashy but also the falsely important, the falsely beautiful, the falsely clever, the falsely attractive," wrote Vladimir Nabakov, who popularized the term. Poshlust is kitsch that thinks it is not, whereas straightforward kitsch is almost transparently trashy and, therefore, wholesome in comparison. Nabakov stated that poshlust "is especially vigorous and vicious when the sham is not obvious and when the values it mimics are considered, rightly or wrongly, to belong to the very highest level of art, thought or emotion."

Artist Lori Miles toys with Nabakov's notion of poshlust by basing her sculptures on images found on the website istockphoto.com, which buys and sells royalty-free, unlicensed photos. The stock photography found on the site is intended to be open to interpretation; oftentimes, designers add copy to the image to define its meaning. The objects photographed are common, are shot in extreme close-ups, at unusual angles, and are saturated with color, imposing an aura of attractiveness and importance. Candy, cardboard boxes, and pencil shavings are part of stock photography's visual vocabulary, and are dressed up in the finest stylings of poshlust.

After scouring the istockphoto.com archives, she singled out the most benign and pedestrian objects, such as nails, vases and crumpled paper. Working from selected images of these objects she created sculptures, installations, and drawings; other stock images were printed for display as "readymades." By exhibiting a slickly produced stock photograph next to a sculpture blueprinted from a stock image, she illustrates how style and image can become more important than the object itself. Miles takes lowbrow items that have been instilled with high-class style and creates artworks that leave us wondering if we are looking at winking kitsch, or oblivious poshlust.

Lori Miles joined the DePauw faculty in 2004 where she holds the position of Assistant Professor of Art. Her work has been exhibited at the Bodner Art Gallery and Herron School of Art, Indianapolis; the Dairy Barn, Athens, OH; Nathan D. Rosen Gallery, Boca Raton; the Swope Museum of Art, Terre Haute; and the Wood Street Gallery, Chicago. Miles is a recipient of a 2004 Indiana Arts Council Individual Artist Grant.

A brochure will accompany the exhibition, with an essay written by DePauw University Assistant Curator Christopher Lynn.

SPECIAL EVENTS

Opening reception with gallery talk by Lori Miles
Wednesday, August 31, 4-6 pm
Visual Arts Gallery

For more information about special events associated with this exhibition, please call the gallery information line at 765.658.4882