From the personal to the philosophical, Zounds, curated by Jeremy Biles, was a wide-ranging exhibition of work in varied media that investigated image of the wound. Judith Brotman‘s sculptures used needles and pins to reference pain and desire, while Kenneth Burkhart revisited the traditional bleeding heart in altered portraiture. Mariano Chavez used a vocabulary inspired by comic art and Christian symbology, and Chris Hammerlein, works on paper recalled medieval illuminations. Jeanne Dunning and Michael Hernandez de Luna‘s work suggested the stigma suffered by the devout, seen alongside the images of the artists such as Steve Hudson and Conor McGrady, who focused on wounds of a secular origin. Greg Porcaro examined the wounds created by his own illness, while Brian Dettmer‘s wounded books implied an ulceration of text.
Zounds was presented in collaboration with the University of Chicago Divinity School. UCLA’S Mark Seltzer opening lecture entitled, “Wound Culture” was supported in part by the University of Chicago’s Department of English and Art History.
