Jeremy LeMahieu

Sarcasm communicates one concept through form and through context, its opposite - but you already knew that. My artwork pins down these moments as I focus on situations that appear to be full of hope and potential, and posits them as a sarcastic symbol. I aim to quickly move the viewer from the physical painting into the metaphysical quandary of dual realities of hope and dread. We can only hope for what we do not yet have.

Images of neighborhood developments, PVC pipes, crosses, or plus signs are visual symbols that often appear in my work. PVC pipes either deliver power or remove excrement. When I see them in a field penetrating the ground I can't help but assume that something new and exciting is developing. Living in the south suburbs of Atlanta, I am surrounded by communities that have been prepared for development. These fastidiously conceived communities have streets poured and painted, power supplied via PVC conduits, and banners of smiling multi-racial families. The occasional model home has been built and in rare cases inhabited. For eight years these developments have gone unaffected, and I wait.

I have, as of late, peed on pine branches which has informed me (in a way only a stick can) that I am in fact expecting. Unlikely for an infertile man. I continue to wait.

Artwork that affirms two seemingly opposing concepts has been a source of inspiration of mine for quite some time. I have been moved by Sanford Biggers's affirmation of two distinct cultural usages of symbols in both his performances and installations. The landscapes of photographers Robert Adams and Josef Jacques, which present a sophisticated and complex irony, have caused me to laugh, though sadly.

I realize that irony and sarcasm are nothing new in the world of art. For centuries artists have struggled through showing the deity and carnality of Jesus, provided viewers with narratives and counter narratives of historical events, and worked in vanitas themes. Kant looked at the world and artwork around him and described Beauty as “purposiveness without a purpose.” In my work I find beauty in purpose without purposiveness.

landscape, hope, conceptual, sarcastic, realistic