Be Oblivion, in Disconnect

2011 - Installation (Installation)

Dimensions Variable

Natasha Wheat

year born: 1981
gender: female
nationality: American

Wheat’s work is built on a strong conceptual framework that weaves together commentary on social and political issues and the radical potential for change. Be Oblivion, in Disconnect (2011) is a sculpture and an intervention. Two cardboard boxes house white neon letters that collectively have the potential to spell “Be Oblivion.” The dismembered phrase is rendered powerless in its present state; the potential power lies with the viewer, who could conceivably reconstruct it. The boxes sit on wooden pallets of the kind typically used for shipping; by painting them white and repurposing them as pedestals, Wheat removes them from circulation as carriers of commodities. The simple cardboard boxes are also discarded shipping materials. The words “Be Oblivion” are a seeming command to fade away into obscurity. This simple phrase resonates as a harbinger of defeat. Perhaps the provocative installation is a pointed statement about our collective loss of power: in politics, commerce, war, international relations, social issues, or all of these. Wheat asks us to resurrect her jumbled phrase in our minds, contemplate it, and see if it is time for an insurrection.


Natasha Wheat’s diverse body of work explores social experience as a sensual phenomenon that is riddled with hierarchical complexity. Her objects, installations, and interventions engender and disrupt a full range of interpersonal relations. Wheat was the founder of Project Grow, an art studio and urban farming program based in Portland, Oregon, that employed developmentally disabled adults and investigated the intersection of food, ideology, society, and exchange. She earned her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MFA with an emphasis in social practice from California College of the Arts.


Colors:



Related works sharing similar palette

Mary Weatherford Revisits a 1957 ARTnews Profile of Painter Joan Mitchell
© » ARTNEWS RETROSPECTIVE

Mary Weatherford Revisits an ARTnews Profile of Joan Mitchell – ARTnews.com Skip to main content By Alex Greenberger Plus Icon Alex Greenberger Senior Editor, ARTnews View All September 4, 2020 10:27am ©ARTnews In 1957, art critic Irving Sandler paid a visit to the studio of painter Joan Mitchell , an Abstract Expressionist known for her brushy images capturing nature...

Stone Deaf (Drawing)
© » KADIST

Milena Bonilla

2009

Milena Bonilla’s discursive practice explores connections among economics, territory, and politics through everyday interventions...

Wild Money
© » KADIST

Laura Gannon

2017

The impressionistic surface of Wild Money (2017) recalls the 1950s paintings of Philip Guston...

Studies of Chinese New Villages II
© » KADIST

Gan Chin Lee

In Studies of Chinese New Villages II Gan Chin Lee’s realism appears in the format of a fieldwork notebook; capturing present-day surroundings while unpacking their historical memory...

Almohada
© » KADIST

Mateo Lopez

2011

Mateo Lopez uses paper as a medium to conjure personal experiences...

Cyclope by Carlos Amorales
© » KADIST

For the last two years, Mexico-City based artist Carlos Amorales has been developing a series of works in relation to what he calls “Cubismo ideológico”...

Adaptando la Carta #1, #2, #3, #4, #5
© » KADIST

Fabiola Torres-Alzaga

2013

Fabiola Torres-Alzaga plays with magic, illusion, and sleight-of-hand, fabricating installations, drawings, and films that toy with our perceptions...

Study from May Day March, Los Angeles 2010 (Immigration Reform Now) and We Are Immigrants Not Terrorists
© » KADIST

Andrea Bowers

2010

The small drawings that comprise Study from May Day March, Los Angeles 2010 (Immigration Reform Now) and We Are Immigrants Not Terrorists are based on photographs taken at a political rally in downtown Los Angeles in which thousands of individuals demonstrated for immigrants’ rights...

The More You Want…, …The Less You Get
© » KADIST

Zach Reini

2015

Particularly shaped by his own youth in the 1990s, his recent works have incorporated things like a marijuana leaf, a dragon-emblazoned chain wallet, metal grommets, and the ubiquitous (in the 90s) Stussy symbol...

Yu-Wen Wu Interviewed by Yutong Shi
© » BOMB

BOMB Magazine | Yu-Wen Wu Interviewed Necessary (Required) Cookies that the site cannot function properly without...

( )
© » KADIST

Kadist artist-in-residence Gabriel Sierra (Bogotá, Colombia) presents a new work, following the spirit of his recent projects thinking about the architectural body as an open question to the behavior of the human body...

Adição por subtração - 4
© » KADIST

Marcelo Cidade

2010

Adição por subtração 4 (Addition by Subtraction, 2010) is an intervention into the white cube with both beautiful and intimidating results...

Studies of Chinese New Villages II
© » KADIST

Gan Chin Lee

2019

In Studies of Chinese New Villages II Gan Chin Lee’s realism appears in the format of a fieldwork notebook; capturing present-day surroundings while unpacking their historical memory...

Untitled (Figure no. 1)
© » KADIST

Oren Pinhassi

2020

Oren Pinhassi’s work examines the relationship between the human figure and the built environment...

Title, Theme Announced for Sixth Aichi Triennale
© » ARTFORUM

Title, Theme Announced for Sixth Aichi Triennale – Artforum Read Next: ART BASEL REVEALS EXHIBITOR LIST FOR 2024 SWISS FAIR Subscribe Search Icon Search Icon Search for: Search Icon Search for: Follow Us facebook twitter instagram youtube Alerts & Newsletters Email address to subscribe to newsletter...

Guy Leclercq — Épures et couleurs
© » SLASH PARIS

Guy Leclercq — Épures et couleurs — Dutko / Quai Voltaire Gallery — Exhibition — Slash Paris Login Newsletter Twitter Facebook Guy Leclercq — Épures et couleurs — Dutko / Quai Voltaire Gallery — Exhibition — Slash Paris English Français Home Events Artists Venues Magazine Videos Back Guy Leclercq — Épures et couleurs Exhibition Painting View of the artist’s studio Guy Leclercq Épures et couleurs Ends in 27 days: December 7, 2023 → January 13, 2024 Dutko Gallery is pleased to present from December 7th until January 13th a selection of the most recent works by Belgian artist Guy Leclercq...

Power Forward
© » KADIST

Power Forward Wednesday, January 24, 2018 Bar 6pm, Program 7pm Ezekiel Kweku & Ameer Lo ggins in conversation, moderated by Sarah Hotchkiss Editors Astria Suparak & Brett Kashmere in person To celebrate the launch of Sports , the newest issue of artist-run publication INCITE: Journal of Experimental Media , KADIST hosts an evening of athletics, politics, art, and dialogue...

Now on show in New York City: BJP’s Female in Focus winners
© » 1854 PHOTOGRAPHY

Now on show in New York City: BJP's Female in Focus winners - 1854 Photography Subscribe latest Agenda Bookshelf Projects Industry Insights magazine Explore ANY ANSWERS FINE ART IN THE STUDIO PARENTHOOD ART & ACTIVISM FOR THE RECORD LANDSCAPE PICTURE THIS CREATIVE BRIEF GENDER & SEXUALITY MIXED MEDIA POWER & EMPOWERMENT DOCUMENTARY HOME & BELONGING ON LOCATION PORTRAITURE DECADE OF CHANGE HUMANITY & TECHNOLOGY OPINION THEN & NOW Explore Stories latest agenda bookshelf projects theme in focus industry insights magazine ANY ANSWERS FINE ART IN THE STUDIO PARENTHOOD ART & ACTIVISM FOR THE RECORD LANDSCAPE PICTURE THIS CREATIVE BRIEF GENDER & SEXUALITY MIXED MEDIA POWER & EMPOWERMENT DOCUMENTARY HOME & BELONGING ON LOCATION PORTRAITURE DECADE OF CHANGE HUMANITY & TECHNOLOGY OPINION THEN & NOW © Minxu Li, Female in Focus 2022 single image winner BJP’s new exhibition takes place in a converted Brooklyn townhouse, reflecting the award’s domestic focus The winners of BJP ’s Female in Focus 2022 include two series and 20 single images which demonstrate the sheer power of photography by women...

Primero Estaba el Mar
© » KADIST

Felipe Arturo

2012

Primero estaba el mar ( First Was the Sea , 2012) is a system of equivalences between syllables and silhouettes of waveforms cast in cement...

Mimbres pottery kill hole sequence
© » KADIST

Mariana Castillo Deball

Mariana Castillo Deball’s set of kill hole plates are part of a larger body of work problematizing archeological narratives, and drawing attention to the conservation process and its role in recreating an imagined object...