Art in the Public Realm: Rural Edition (2013)

Art in the Public Realm: Rural Editions, sits about 250 yards off M-53, towering on a 50-ft barn that is still in use today. The front view is of a now-fading, blue-grey pigeon and the Hygeinic Dress League (HDL) logo — advertising a corporation that proudly provides no products or services. Those lucky enough to drive around back are greeted with HDL’s take on Grant Wood’s American Gothic, arguably the most spoofed piece of American art in history. Standing with pitchfork in hand are the two main characters in HDL’s ongoing narrative. On them are the gasmasks that have become associated with their art. This work explores the relationship between large corporations, food, consumerism, and profit.

Hygienic Dress League (HDL) is an American corporation legally registered in 2007 by husband-and-wife visual artists Steve and Dorota Coy. HDL uses its status of the corporation as an art medium, serving as a platform for critiquing contradictions in contemporary society through symbolism and public interventions, ranging from fleeting projections, guerrilla marketing, video holograms, and installation art. HDL’s public interventions have appeared internationally in cities including Berlin, Germany; Montreal, Canada; Madrid, Spain; and Vannes, France, and in the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo in Bogota, Colombia. 

This installation is on private property. Please stay away from, and off of, the structures. Property owners are not responsible for personal injury. 

NOTES

Include image of “extractors” in Ziel field as part of performance.