To begin with, the show’s title is borrowed from something he saw printed on an industrial cargo bag. “It sounded poetic and mystical, but it’s basically a super-practical, appropriated thing,” Fodness says. And there is a connection to the work in the show, which includes a drawing of the same name and an interrelatedness carried on through “weird linkages from piece to piece in the show.” The sum of those links — found in various guises, from a weight bench Fodness found and modified so it “looks like a torture device to highlight the absurdity of that kind of equipment” to a portrait bust that’s “loosely a self-portrait or a shadow self of me as a father, or, rather, the kind of father I don’t want to be” — is a loose statement about the modern obsession with self-image in a society where everyone’s checking each other out. For instance, his melted, sloppy bust bears a twisted resemblance to Homer Simpson, denoting a type of patriarch who is abusive, lazy and obsessed with sports — exactly what a parent doesn’t want to appear to be.
The Void Is Too Large opens tonight with a reception from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at Plus, 2501 Larimer Street, and continues through August 17; for more information, go to plusgallery.com or call 303-296-0927.
Thu., July 11, 6:30-9 p.m.; Wednesdays-Saturdays, 12-5 p.m. Starts: July 11. Continues through Sept. 17, 2013
