Dawn DeDeaux and Lonnie Holley Thumbs Up for the Mothership

Marking the first exhibition in a series that is designed to give an extended public forum to artists who have participated in the Captiva studio residency program of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, Thumbs Up for the Mothership features individual works as well as a collaborative installation by New Orleans conceptual artist Dawn DeDeaux and Alabamian self-taught sculptor and musician Lonnie Holley. Deeply influenced by their southern roots, both artists mine the landscapes around them for found objects (a nod to Rauschenberg’s “combines”) and engage in dialogues around issues of ecology and social justice. DeDeaux and Holley firmly believe that through art, they can address these issues and “help heal the mothership.” Both DeDeaux and Holley frequently experiment with mixed media and incorporate performance into their practice — ranging from totemic found objects and photography to experimental blues music and Afrofuturist philosophies. These artists share a deeply held sense of resoluteness and optimism that infuses their art. Holley states: “There are so many rocks and so many broken stones and so many nails and sticks and weeds and debris and garbage and trash. We have to plow and mine the worst things on this earth to make them better, and to make us better, so we can show the world: I can handle it. I can deal with it. I can live with it. I can go on.”

Further Reading
Between Apocalypses, The New York Times, October 2014
Lonnie Holley, the Insider’s Outsider, The New York Times, January 2014

Thumbs Up for the Mothership is a collaboration with the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation residency program at Captiva Island, Florida. Exhibition support is provided by the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, the Barr Foundation, and the Mass Cultural Council.

Dawn DeDeaux, Mothership III THE STATION, 2014-15
Installation Entrance / Evening View, 30′ and 50′ truss rings, ladders, Zeppelin Series images on aluminum, each at 4′ × 6′