2025 Annual Juried Show- Dada! The Art of Absurdity
Exhibit dates: October 24-December 4, 2025
Location: Suffolk Art Gallery, 118 Bosley Ave., Suffolk, VA 23434
Opening Reception: October 24, 6-9 pm Costume Party!! Costumes are encouraged, but optional.
(Awards announced at 6:45 pm)
Live music by Red Stapler Duo, 7-9 pm
Location: Suffolk Art Gallery, 118 Bosley Ave., Suffolk, VA 23434
Opening Reception: October 24, 6-9 pm Costume Party!! Costumes are encouraged, but optional.
(Awards announced at 6:45 pm)
Live music by Red Stapler Duo, 7-9 pm
What is DADA?!
Dadaism was a radical artistic and literary movement that emerged in the early 20th century as a direct and negative reaction to the senseless brutality and horror of World War I. Artists and intellectuals, disillusioned with the "reason" and "logic" of a bourgeois society that could lead to such a catastrophic conflict, gathered in neutral Zürich, Switzerland.
The movement was officially born in 1916 at the Cabaret Voltaire, a satirical nightclub founded by writer Hugo Ball and his partner Emmy Hennings. Other founding members included Tristan Tzara and Jean Arp. The artists embraced irrationality, nonsense, absurdity, and anti-bourgeois sentiment as an attack on what they saw as a failed civilization. They declared their work "anti-art," rejecting the traditional aesthetic values they believed were complicit in the cultural climate that supported the war.
The name Dada itself is deliberately nonsensical, often associated with a child’s first word or the French word for "hobbyhorse." Dada rapidly spread internationally, with centers forming in New York (featuring artists like Marcel Duchamp and Francis Picabia) and Berlin, where the art took on a more overtly political and satirical edge (with artists like Hannah Höch and George Grosz utilizing photomontage). Dadaists pioneered innovative and unconventional art forms, including performance, sound poetry, collage, photomontage, and the most revolutionary development: the readymade, epitomized by Marcel Duchamp's Fountain (a signed urinal). This act fundamentally challenged the very definition of art, arguing that the artist's idea, or intellectual selection, was more important than manual skill.
Although the movement was short-lived, largely dissipating by the mid-1920s with many artists transitioning into Surrealism, its legacy on contemporary art is immense and profound. Dadaism is often cited as the first conceptual art movement, establishing the priority of idea over object. Its core ideas continue to shape art today:
The movement was officially born in 1916 at the Cabaret Voltaire, a satirical nightclub founded by writer Hugo Ball and his partner Emmy Hennings. Other founding members included Tristan Tzara and Jean Arp. The artists embraced irrationality, nonsense, absurdity, and anti-bourgeois sentiment as an attack on what they saw as a failed civilization. They declared their work "anti-art," rejecting the traditional aesthetic values they believed were complicit in the cultural climate that supported the war.
The name Dada itself is deliberately nonsensical, often associated with a child’s first word or the French word for "hobbyhorse." Dada rapidly spread internationally, with centers forming in New York (featuring artists like Marcel Duchamp and Francis Picabia) and Berlin, where the art took on a more overtly political and satirical edge (with artists like Hannah Höch and George Grosz utilizing photomontage). Dadaists pioneered innovative and unconventional art forms, including performance, sound poetry, collage, photomontage, and the most revolutionary development: the readymade, epitomized by Marcel Duchamp's Fountain (a signed urinal). This act fundamentally challenged the very definition of art, arguing that the artist's idea, or intellectual selection, was more important than manual skill.
Although the movement was short-lived, largely dissipating by the mid-1920s with many artists transitioning into Surrealism, its legacy on contemporary art is immense and profound. Dadaism is often cited as the first conceptual art movement, establishing the priority of idea over object. Its core ideas continue to shape art today:
- Conceptual Art: The invention of the readymade and the emphasis on the artist's concept over traditional craft are the direct precursors to Conceptual Art, where the idea behind the work is paramount.
- Pop Art and Neo-Dada: The use of everyday, found, and mass-produced objects by Dadaists, particularly Duchamp, paved the way for Pop Artists like Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons to incorporate mass culture and commercial imagery into "high art."
- Performance Art: The chaotic and spontaneous theatrical events at Cabaret Voltaire laid the essential groundwork for modern Performance Art and Happenings.
- Media and Technique: Dadaists' experimentation with collage, photomontage, and assemblage is a foundational influence on contemporary artists working in mixed media, installation, and even digital art, which sometimes uses randomization and chance operations that echo Dada's principles.
Award Winners
Best in Show: Jean Peacock
2nd Place: Ryan Clemens
3rd Place: John Tobin Jr.
Jane Butler Memorial Award: Ashleigh Bagwell
Award in Honor of Dana Adams: Sarah Bolduc
Sary/Rudy Award: Alegrea Boone
Judy Oswald Memorial Award: Laura Schmidt
Betty & Sam Glasscock Memorial Award: Russell Schools
Sharon, Julien & Chip Picot Memorial Award: S. Nozzarella
Momma Jo & Poppa Jo Memorial Award: Sandy Lupton
Richardson Award: Erica Trabold
Award in Honor of Linda G. Bunch: Christine Pianin
Carlton P. Hardy Award: Lily Johnson
Katelyn Jacobs Memorial Award: Alex Baldeseroni
Best in Show: Jean Peacock
2nd Place: Ryan Clemens
3rd Place: John Tobin Jr.
Jane Butler Memorial Award: Ashleigh Bagwell
Award in Honor of Dana Adams: Sarah Bolduc
Sary/Rudy Award: Alegrea Boone
Judy Oswald Memorial Award: Laura Schmidt
Betty & Sam Glasscock Memorial Award: Russell Schools
Sharon, Julien & Chip Picot Memorial Award: S. Nozzarella
Momma Jo & Poppa Jo Memorial Award: Sandy Lupton
Richardson Award: Erica Trabold
Award in Honor of Linda G. Bunch: Christine Pianin
Carlton P. Hardy Award: Lily Johnson
Katelyn Jacobs Memorial Award: Alex Baldeseroni
Juried Show Participating Artists
|
Crismeily Alburquerque
Ashleigh Bagwell Alex Baldeseroni Sarah Bolduc Alegrea Boone Autumn Bose Linda G Bunch Ryan Clemens Cheryl Cusick Abigail Davis Garth Fry Del Ganey Alice Gravely Robert Hawkes Erlene Hendrix Barbara Hennig-Loomis Gary Hess Sid Joannette Lily Johnson Elizabeth Jones Gordon Jones Mitchell D Lee Michael Long |
Sandy Lupton
Michal Mahgerefteh S Nozzarella Jean Peacock Christine Pianin Carolyn Riley Angie Salerno Karen Sallaz Monica Schauffler Laura Schmidt Russell Schools Hector Sector Lenae Stanley John Stock Carly Stublen Ed Thornburg Jill Tiderman Barbara Tierney JOHN TOBIN, JR Erica Trabold Jama Watts Dorian Williams-El Andrew Wohl |
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