a good place to die

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Join us at Maus Contemporary this Friday, Oct. 28 (6-8pm) and discover Melissa Vandenberg’s newly published monograph “smoke ‘em if you got ‘em”.

Books will be available for purchase at the gallery and artist Melissa Vandenberg will be present to sign your copy during the opening reception for the exhibitions Clayton Colvin “bots and loops” and Taj Matumbi “Westword”.

Melissa Vandenberg

“smoke ‘em if you got ‘em”

with texts by Wendy Vogel, Zachary Small, and Anna Viola Hallberg

Hardcover, 428 pages, full color

approx. 12 by 9.6 in.

(ca. 30,7 by 23,7 cm)

ISBN: 978-0-9988397-1-4

@zacharyhsmall @wendylvogel @avhallberg

#ClaytonColvin @cvcolvin #TajMatumbi @matumbi_studio #MausContemporary @mauscontemporary

TEMPER AND CONDUCT April 9, 2021 - June 26, 2021 Alabama Contemporary Art Center | Mobile, Alabama

WORK BY KATIE HARGRAVE | MELISSA VANDENBERG

Temper and Conduct examines the history and lore of the snake as a notorious American symbol, the fear serpents evoke, and the ways these symbols are employed today in mythology as local as that of Mobile, or as broad as the countless uses of the Gadsden flag.

The history of the snake in American and Alabamian ideology is fundamentally a material history. Had newspapers not published an article by “An American Guesser” (known now to be Ben Franklin) recording descriptions of military flags with images of rattlesnakes, had French explorers notebooks not described the serpent tattoos covering the torso of who history has decided was the co-founder of Mobile, the resulting visual culture would not remain pertinent.

Vandenberg and Hargrave take up that material history with a sewing needle, while local tattoo artists Rachael Ellzey Black, Suzette Callahan, Tyler Johnson, AJ Ludlow, and Grace Schuessler created flash paintings to explore how the tattoo needle continues to intersect with the story of the serpent.

“Was I wrong, Sir, in thinking this a strong picture of the temper and conduct of America? The poison of her teeth is the necessary means of digesting her food, and at the same time is certain destruction to her enemies. This may be understood to intimate that those things which are destructive to our enemies, may be to us not only harmless, but absolutely necessary to our existence. I confess I was wholly at a loss what to make of the rattles, ’till I went back and counted them and found them just thirteen, exactly the number of the Colonies united in America; and I recollected too that this was the only part of the Snake which increased in numbers. Perhaps it might be only fancy, but, I conceited the painter had shown a half formed additional rattle, which, I suppose, may have been intended to represent the province of Canada.”

-Ben Franklin

TEMPER AND CONDUCT NEW WORK BY KATIE HARGRAVE | MELISSA VANDENBERG ALABAMA CONTEMPORARY 2021 | MOBILE, AL Temper and Conduct examines the history and lore of the snake as a notorious American symbol, the fear serpents evoke, and the ways these symbols are employed today in mythology as local as that of Mobile, or as broad as the countless uses of the Gadsden flag. The history of the snake in American and Alabamian ideology is fundamentally a material history. Had newspapers not published an article by “An American Guesser” (known now to be Ben Franklin) recording descriptions of military flags with images of rattlesnakes, had French explorers notebooks not described the serpent tattoos covering the torso of who history has decided was the co-founder of Mobile, the resulting visual culture would not remain pertinent. Vandenberg and Hargrave take up that material history with a sewing needle, while local tattoo artists Rachael Ellzey Black, Suzette Callahan, Tyler Johnson, AJ Ludlow, and Grace Schuessler created flash paintings to explore how the tattoo needle continues to intersect with the story of the serpent. 

”I spent much of my adult life looking for good bread, the bread my grandmother baked for my mom. Not out of some health-conscious or grand moral desire, but simply for taste... a taste of cultural identity. My mother spoke a great deal about the homemade limpa she grew up with. The project in Värnamo will address the personal journey, and almost mythologic relation to various breads. I wish to collaborate with Värnamo residents, and the Småland landscape, to form socially oriented and performative artworks with bread as a primary focus. These interactions will not be heavily scripted, but will be multi-faceted with several tiers of collaborative development."

                                     - Melissa Vandenberg, 2018

During the pandemic, baking became something that many people did. In both Sweden and the United States, the debate over face masks was highly agitated. Vandenberg has been employed in phrases such as "home sweet home" as well as in issues related to migration and cultural heritage. In the history of his own family, the artist has a connection to Sweden and to the bread (loaf) that the relatives baked. Vandenberg has experimented with different sourdough recipes and come to master the baking art something that was necessary to be able to design the sourdough works with precision. This was possible through the meeting with Värnamo residents' bread stories, which also gave many other impressions for the artist.

Hösten 2019 hade Melissa Vandenberg möjlighet att besöka Värnamo för att genomföra ett konstnärssamtal samt även för att orientera sig i stadens dynamik och historia. Det gav konstnären möjlighet att knyta an till olika personer som hon skulle arbeta med då hon återvände sommaren 2020. Arbetet låg klart men i mars 2020 tog Region Jönköpings län beslutet att på obestämd framtid skjuta på projektet. I juni kom beslutet om framåtrörelse igen, men då som ett hybridprojekt. Konstnären fick delvis tänka om igen. Vad skulle fungera i den nya tiden? Delar skulle utvecklas lokalt och annat i dialog med Melissa. Under sommaren trycktes vykort upp som bjöd in Värnamobor att dela av sina brödminnen. Dessa utgör nu ett arkiv och installerades tillsammans med gestaltningar av Vandenberg. Verken är gjorda i blandtekniker där garn och knäckebröd samt fotografier av de säregna brödmaskerna.

Melissa Vandenberg lives in the state of Kentucky, USA, where she also works as a professor of art. She would have worked in Värnamo during May-June 2020. Instead, the country and the world were shut down due to the pandemic. A reality that we all had to relate to. The interpersonal distance that DISTANCIO revolves around was given another bottom, created by what came to be called social distancing.