Cautionary Tales as Anecdotal Phrases
Cautionary tales are those short phrases that instruct you on how to act when things go wrong. They come in the form of written or spoken strategies for reacting to unforeseen danger and are those simple personal mantras for lifting your spirits when the day turns cloudy. Cautionary Tales as Anecdotal Phases may also include but are not limited to:
- the little lies you tell yourself to make it through the day
- the dishonesty put-forth in statements and protocol of disaster preparation
The Promise of Safety is the unspoken pact made between you and the potentially dangerous objects or situations you put yourself into. This allows you to feel protected, safe, and in control at all times. The Promise of Safety may also include but is not limited to:
- your trust in the modern technologies of protection and security including inflatable airbags, safety restraints, inflatable life saving devices, etc.
- the trust you put on words of comfort given by those ëin controlí such as pilots, boat drivers, automobile manufacturers, etc.
- the prescribed responses to safety that give you a false sense of security and control over your chaotic world.
- the understanding that if you know how to react to a potentially dangerous situation, or have the tools to survive that situation then you will without a doubt make it through said situation and ultimately prevail.
John Richey is a cross-disciplinary artist working predominately with sculptural assemblage, installation, and video. His work has explored issues of identity, and the concepts of both interpersonal/mass communication and miscommunication/communication breakdown. Recently Richey has been examining a number of text based collections, (including a series of found handwritten notes and a group of appropriated safety brochures) in an attempt to accentuate and heighten their inherent theatricality. By doing so Richey translates the bodies of banal information into objects, environments, or projections that push and emphasize the absurd and spectacular.
Richey received a BFA in visual arts from the University of Arizona School of Art in 2001. While attending the University of Arizona he worked closely with painter Barbara Penn and photographer/video-maker Joyan Saunders to create paintings and drawings as well as performative, video, and mixed media installations. As Gallery Coordinator for the Lionel Rambach, Richey ran the exhibition space, writing press releases and working with student artists to conceptualize, produce, and install gallery exhibitions.
In 2001 he moved to San Diego to become part of the graduate/research community at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). While attending UCSD he had the privilage to study and engage with such mentors as Ernest Silva, Barbara Kruger, Jennifer Pastor, Grant Kester and others. Richey has exhibited nationally and internationally and has also been published in zingmagazine: a curatorial crossroads. In early 2004 Richey mounted his thesis exhibition and released the self published everything under control: a survival manual which highlights work from his graduate career.
Richey is currently living and working in Brooklyn, New York.
jrichey@ucsd.edu
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