Marciano Art Foundation presents “Inattention,” the first solo exhibition in Los Angeles by artist Bunny Rogers (b. 1990, Houston, TX; lives and works in New York) in the Lounge Gallery at MAF. The exhiition opened September 1, 2018, and highlights Rogers’ two video works A Very Special Holiday Performance in Columbine Auditorium (2017) and Mandy’s Piano Solo in Columbine Cafeteria (2016). Both animated videos are demonstrative of how media has shaped the artist’s identity as an obsessive consumer and self-proclaimed internet addict since childhood.
Sept2018-MarcianoFdn-BunnyRogers-Mandy-PianoSoloinColumbineCafeteria-2016-Animated film
Bunny Rogers, Mandy’s Piano Solo in Columbine Cafeteria, 2016. Animated film. Courtesy the artist and Société

Fixated on animated television shows like Clone High and Invader Zim, and websites such as Neopets.com, Rogers grew attached to fictional people and creatures that have become recurring characters in her work. These children’s programs overlapped in time with severe and violent events widely covered by news media outlets, including the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in which 15 students and teachers died, and another 23 were injured. Rogers grew up during the rise of school shootings and cites the Columbine imagery as significant and unforgettable.

Over time, mass shootings have become embedded in our global collective consciousness, contributing immeasurably to our understanding of tragedy. Our capacity to process human suffering continues to expand by way of forgetting, desensitization, and disassociation—consciously or unconsciously, we all fall victim. “Today the media landscape looks different than it did in 1999. It is nearly indistinguishable from reality, and vice versa. Turning ‘off’ is more or less illusory,” writes Rogers.

Imagery that is horrifying or pornographic, uncanny or manipulative, is consumed as automatically as any other imagery. By absorbing these images, we are registering them, and Rogers believes that “to register imagery is to corrupt imagery.” How today’s traumatic media will affect us tomorrow is unknown.

Admission to all exhibitions at MAF is free; Hours: Thursday, Friday and Sunday 11 AM – 5 PM and Saturday 10am–6pm. Closed Monday and national holidays. Open for school groups on Tuesdays and Wednesdays by appointment. On view through January 6, 2019. 

Where: Marciano Art Foundation, 4357 Wilshire Boulevard, LA, 90010
Phone: (424) 204.7555
Website: https://marcianoartfoundation.org