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Monday, October 25, 2010

Conner Contemporary Presents: Federico Solmi "Douche Bag City"

H Street Icon  | OPENING |

Opening Reception: Saturday, October 30th from 6pm - 8pm. Artist in attendance.

Federico Solmi  You Are Dick Richman from Douche Bag City. 2010, video-animation. Photo Courtesy of Conner Contemporary Art
My works are filled with corrupt politicians, murderers, swindlers, tyrants, porn stars, religious preachers... I want to present viewers with an ironic but perverse vision of our times and our near future.
- Federico Solmi

To preview the work: CLICK HERE

Conner Contemporary Art presents Douche Bag City, a major exhibition of video-animation, painting, and sculpture by Federico Solmi. Douche Bag City will run from October 30 through December 18, 2010

Solmi shocked Europe last year by exhibiting The Evil Empire (2008), the video portrait of a future Pope whose violent sex addiction leads to widespread ruin. Because of the work’s controversial content, the video was censored in France and Spain. Solmi, who lives in New York, was put on trial in his native Italy for obscenity, blasphemy and offense to religion. Later that year, the Guggenheim Foundation honored Solmi by awarding him with the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, in the category of video and audio, and commissioned work from him. This year, curators Sarah Lewis and Daniel Belasco selected Solmi’s latest video, Douche Bag City (2010) for exhibition in the SITE Santa Fe Eighth International Exhibition.

In Douche Bag City, Solmi turns his satirical lens toward Wall Street. Here, the artist applies his signature style, combining painting and hand-drawn animation with digital models, through the implementation of computer gaming engines. Solmi’s satire of Wall Street greed and corruption operates as a critique of the violence inherent in social and economic power structures. The artist has designed a special installation of custom-framed LCD screens for the presentation of Douche Bag City in the gallery. In addition to Solmi’s most recent videos, we will present his seminal works Rocco Never Dies (2005), The Giant (2005), and King Kong and the End of the World (2006).

Conner Contemporary will also show Solmi’s newest works, which have never before been exhibited: a large-scale sculpture inspired by The Evil Empire and paintings for the video animation Chinese Democracy and the Last Day on Earth (a work in progress).

For further information contact the gallery at info@connercontemporary.com  or call 202.588.8750

Conner Contemporary Art is located at 1358 Florida Avenue, NE Washington, DC 20002 Gallery  hours are as follows: Tuesday through Saturday 10 - 5pm.


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