Chutes and Ladders
1986
While several of Clark's works have pointed to the exclusions and inequities that face the less privileged entering the world of work, CHUTES AND LADDERS points out the dubious rewards of a mainstream career. This outdoor installation used billboards throughout Milwaukee to depict five typical career situations metaphorically. Each featured a stereotypical white male in a business suit, caught in a comic physical situation. For example, one billboard showed the startled man lifted high in the air by a crane that has hooked him by the suit jacket, while another showed him struggling to climb using ropes and harnesses. Distributed among neighborhoods of different economic backgrounds, the displays might be seen as sympathetically depicting the struggles of the corporate class, or as mocking this class from without.
BILLBOARDS
On Site: Installations, Cudahy Gallery, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI
DOCUMENTATION
Individuals: New Art from Wisconsin, 333 Gallery, Chicago, IL
CATALOGUE
On Site: Installations
PRESS
Art appears in strange places, Milwaukee Sentinel
Exhibit gets art in the open, Milwaukee Journal
Individuals: New Art From Wisconsin, New Art Examiner
SUPPORT
Wisconsin Arts Board
AVAILABLE ON REQUEST
Slides
