David Buckingham: Don't Hate Me Because I'm Beautiful September 2, 2010

Opening reception Thur, Sept 2, 6-8pm; Show runs Sept 2 - Oct 2, Tues-Sat 11-5

Cain Schulte is pleased to present the new solo show, David Buckingham: Don't Hate Me Because I'm Beautiful. The exhibition opens Sept. 2 and runs through Oct. 2, 2010. The artist will be present at the opening reception, Thursday September 2, from 6 to 8 PM.

This solo exhibition, the artist's third at Cain Schulte, addresses a variety of issues found within American culture, from gun fascination, violence and rampant capitalism to current neuroses surrounding gender, sexuality, and the attainment of beauty through artificial means. Buckingham's deceptively simple sculptures made of found metal are stunningly direct in technique yet maintain a semiotic ambiguity that is cleverly disconcerting and dispassionately humorous. His varied but incredibly cohesive work often recalls the aesthetic principles of Pop Art, text-based Conceptual Art and the mischievous theories of the Situationist International; he melds and perverts the basic tenets of these movements in an exceptionally complex and daring pastiche.

Echoes of an extensive background in advertising can be seen in Buckingham's textual work, starting from the title: "Don't Hate me Because I'm Beautiful", a line from an 80's TV commercial for shampoo, however the political correctness of commercialism is abandoned in favor of crass and uncouth statements. He takes lines from modern film classics ("Show Me the Money"), generic pornography ("Oh Baby Yeah Oh God"), classic rock and punk songs ("White Punks on Dope"), while incorporating other ubiquitous phrases that have permeated the media-saturated and spectacularized American mind. It is a giddy celebration of, and a venomous assault on, modern American culture.

David Buckingham is a New Orleans native who now lives and works in Los Angeles. His work has shown in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berlin, New York, and Chicago and has been included in an exhibition at the Riverside Art Museum and several private collections in the United States and Europe.

Official Website: http://www.cainschulte.com