Cynthia Daignault: There is nothing I could say that I haven’t thought before

The FLAG Art Foundation presents Cynthia Daignault: There is nothing I could say that I haven’t thought before, on its 10th floor gallery from January 19 – May 13, 2017. Daignault’s new series of paintings – part solo exhibition, virtual group show, and curatorial project – is a collaboration with 36 artists exploring ideas of agency, appropriation, and the traces we leave behind.

Daignault has experimented with collaboration throughout her career, often asking artists, curators, and volunteers to share in the creation of her work. In that spirit, she initiated this exhibition at FLAG, inviting artists who explore themes of appropriation, readymades, and display to participate in a group show, where she would make and exhibit painted copies of their works in lieu of the actual objects. As it is now more common to encounter a digital surrogate than a physical artwork, Daignault painted from JPEGs, rendering the simulacra as paintings. The artist suggests that: “To make any copy is to perform a shadow dance where the artist mimics and mirrors their subject.”

At the heart of each artwork is an act of appropriation, yet one in which Daignault has re-empowered the artists being referenced by granting them the permission to say no and the agency to choose. She recasts appropriation as collaboration and reverses the power dynamic of a nihilistic approach where all images are rights-free and up for grabs. Each finished painting is a hybrid of two practices and styles—an exchange between artists—a fact Daignault highlights by giving the artists a small painted copy of their work. The artist continues her use of serial forms, with these works all created in traditional portrait scale, and presented in a linear non-hierarchical installation, forging meaning across the group of images as a whole.