Up to Something

Jamie Adams, Alic Brock, Ákos Ezer, Jacob Rochester, Guillermo Serrano Amat, Emma Steinkraus, Alex Sutcliffe, Marcus Venegas, Cynthia Zhou

Plato is pleased to present Up to Something.

Since Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel, humans have been getting into trouble together. Up to Something features a selection of artists from Plato's program alongside some new voices, all exploring the pleasures and perils of collective mischief. From seduction and rivalry to drunken encounters and questionable mass gatherings, the exhibition considers the curious things that happen when humans get together.

Back to the Bible: the first stories were already full of trouble. Adam and Eve invite temptation and transgression; Cain and Abel, jealousy and violence. These impulses seem as old as the world. Perhaps we weren't created simply to multiply and prosper, but to complicate one another's existence. Or was it Lucifer who turned the former into the possibility of the latter? We are social animals, after all, supposedly destined to seek company and connection. Yet something happens when we gather: curiosity turns into temptation, affection leads to rivalry. We enjoy looking at the moon just as much as watching boxing matches.

Across the exhibition, love and jealousy, passion and envy occupy opposite sides of the same board--sometimes literally a chessboard, as in paintings by Alic Brock and Cynthia Zhou. Courtship (Emma Steinkraus) gives way to breakup (Marcus Venegas), while a public wedding may conceal the beginnings of family secrets (Alic Brock). A leisurely day of beachcombing can take a darker turn when a friend must be carried away (Ákos Ezer and Jamie Adams). A date at a bar might be only a hair's breadth away from a drunken brawl (Guillermo Serrano Amat), while one person's pursuit of treasure can invite another's temptation to smuggle (Alex Sutcliffe).

In the end, how would we ever get around to breaking the commandments if we didn't have one another to help?

Up to Something is an illustration of how two or more can make a company--and what we are tempted to do with it. Consider this an invitation to join in. You never know what you might get up to.