Self-taught sculptor Jo Cunningham is bringing "The Freak Family Roadshow" to Bingen and will be exhibiting at Sun Sun on Saturday, Aug. 9 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
"The traveling sculptural installation depicts a gorilla mother, an alien father and their strange love child cruising through America," said a press release.
"It is my hope that this juxtaposition can challenge and illuminate how society labels and judges those we perceive as ‘freak’ or ‘other,’” said Cunningham.
"Outside the trailer there is a lurid sideshow banner and an animatronic carnival barker promising an experience 'that will make you grateful for your normal life.'"
Self-taught sculptor Jo Cunningham is bringing "The Freak Family Roadshow" to Bingen and will be exhibiting at Sun Sun on Saturday, Aug. 9 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
BINGEN — Self-taught sculptor Jo Cunningham is bringing "The Freak Family Roadshow" to Washington and will be exhibiting at Sun Sun on Saturday, Aug. 9 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
"The traveling sculptural installation depicts a gorilla mother, an alien father and their strange love child cruising through America," said a press release.
Jo Cunningham photo
"Outsider art taught me that you don't need permission or approval from the art world to be creative," Cunningham explains.
Jo Cunningham photo
"It is my hope that this juxtaposition can challenge and illuminate how society labels and judges those we perceive as ‘freak’ or ‘other,’” said Cunningham.
Jo Cunningham photo
"The traveling sculptural installation depicts a gorilla mother, an alien father and their strange love child cruising through America, trapped in an eternal time loop inside a canned-ham-style 1950s era trailer," said a press release. "Outside the trailer there is a lurid sideshow banner and an animatronic carnival barker promising an experience 'that will make you grateful for your normal life.'
"But, once inside the fully-restored vintage trailer, viewers will be surprised to find a relatively familiar domestic scene: a child’s toys litter the floor, tchotchkes adorn the shelves and a series of tender family photos hang on the walls. In the background, classic tunes from the period play over the radio," the release continued.
"It is my hope that this juxtaposition can challenge and illuminate how society labels and judges those we perceive as ‘freak’ or ‘other,’” said Cunningham.
Originally from Brooklyn, Cunningham quit her job in publishing in 2020, got her driver’s license and embarked on a cross-country road trip, where she stopped at various roadside attractions and art installations, catching the contagious freedom of outsider and folk artists, such as Butch Anthony and Howard Finster.
"Outsider art taught me that you don't need permission or approval from the art world to be creative," Cunningham explains.
Cunningham’s first foray into public art was in the summer of 2022, with a small-scale sculpture of a rat funeral, which she would place on the streets of Brooklyn. Hidden nearby, Cunningham would excitedly watch people’s reactions.
"Outside the trailer there is a lurid sideshow banner and an animatronic carnival barker promising an experience 'that will make you grateful for your normal life.'"
Jo Cunningham photo
“Some looked with disinterest, but more people laughed and screamed,” she remembers. “I felt that, for a moment, I was able to transform people’s initial reaction of disgust into something more whimsical and maybe even compassionate.”
Another theme in Cunningham’s work is animal rights: “I’d like my work to lead people to question the treatment and monetizing of animals. And I hope making public street art that is surprising will increase the impact.”
Cunningham’s goal with The Freak Family Roadshow is to continue surprising audiences by bringing art into unfamiliar places. “I want to pull the roadside attraction up by its roots and place it on the road itself, bringing art into urban communities and across small-town America," she said. "I hope to make art that is accessible and fun for everyone. I think art gets more and more enlivened the further it is from where it’s expected to be.”
The exhibit also mythologizes aspects of Cunningham’s own family: the drawings and paintings on the walls were made by the artist when she was a little girl and the hybrid baby’s school photo features Cunningham’s now deceased grandmother and uncle. Cunningham’s mother, a primatologist, and her artist father, who incorporates UFO and conspiracy theory into his work, are reflected in the installation’s characters.
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