The North Dakota Museum of Art currently has two new exhibits on display.
Jill Brody's "Hidden in Plain Sight" and Armando Ramos' "Something Absurd" are both showcased in the museum's galleries.
Both exhibits will on display through Aug. 26. The museum is open on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on weekends from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free.
"They're both very impressive in their own way," said Laurel Reuter, director of the North Dakota Museum of Art. "I think the public will find them fascinating."
Brody
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Photographer Jill Brody's "Hidden in Plain Sight" features 36 large-scale images capturing the daily life of Montana's Liberty County Hutterites.
A documentarian for the more than 25 years, Brody took trips to the Hutterite colonies several times each year since 2010, and studied their cultures and how they lived.
Brody, a New York native who now lives in Providence, R.I., said she was originally drawn to Montana in search of the stereotypical cowboy, but she changed course when she started to delve into how people in rural communities interact with each other and help each other out. That is how she found the colonies.
Brody said she was struck by the dramatic difference to how people in urban areas such as New York City interact with their neighbors versus how people in rural areas treat them.
"There's something about people figuring out a way to live with each other in close range in the way that they do," Brody said. "This is about figuring out how to get along with people. You can't love everybody, that's impossible. But you can figure out how to get along and live together."
Included in the exhibit are scenes of women and children playing in the snow, women and men eating on opposite sides of the communal hall and a group playing field hockey.
Laurel Reuter, the director of the North Dakota Museum of Art, said she was drawn to Brody's work because of the local interest. Though the groups photographed in Brody's work were from Montana, Reuter said locals would find the exhibit interesting because of the Hutterites groups in North Dakota.
"It explores so many complex ideas, and I think people will like it.," Reuter said. "It's a show with a lot of local interest."
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Ramos
With "Something Absurd," Armando Ramos wants people to see things from a different perspective, he said.
With a variety of materials, Ramos mixes pop culture, mass media and religious symbols with more traditional artwork.
Ramos said his artwork is intended as a playful counterpoint to the darker images and ideas in mass culture. He said he aims to to use irony and humor to portray parody in his art.
"I try to come at it through a humorous point of view and a different perspective," he said. "So much stuff out there is serious and I want to show that not everything has to be that way to make a point."
Most of the images in his work come from her personal past and things he found interesting when he was a child.
"I don't know anyone making work like he is in North Dakota at this time," said Laurel Reuter, director of the North Dakota Museum of Art.
Ramos, a native Texan, teaches at Valley City State University where he chairs the art department.
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"Something Absurd" is the second exhibition in the NDMOA's "The Art Makers" series. The series, which opened with Micah Bloom's "Codex," spotlights artists who reside in the region. Underwritten by William Wosick, the series allows artists to create new bodies of work based on a singular idea or theme. This might entail an exhibition, a film screening, performance, reading or various renditions of a public participatory event, Reuter said.
When the series began, Reuter said her mind immediately went to Ramos because of the different types of work he is doing.
"I think Armando's' work resonates with people's personal lives and their own histories," she said. "That's what makes it so great. People come not knowing what to expect and they leave very impressed."
