Buffalo, NY
Propaganda is biased information put out into the world to change and influence beliefs. Printmaker Kathie Aspaas makes what she calls “soft propaganda,” something a little less imperious, a lot more forgiving. A diehard capitalist might not observe that “The Root of All Happiness,” an amorphous agglomeration of three grayscale bands, is printed on paper handmade with shreds of money. If he did notice, he might not get the ironic critique, either. Why be so equivocal? A second work of Aspaas’s suggests a possible answer. At the center of a vortex collaged from found photos of rocks, a barking dog, and scraps from other projects sit two men in a cockpit heading far off into outer space. The title, “Exiting the Dogma System,” promises some kind of hope ahead, though it might require leaving this planet.
—Lori Waxman 11/13/16 3:21 PM