In Ready to Rumble? Maria Cristina Jadick employs assemblage, photography, printmaking, performance, video and American iconography to form installation tableaux that engage viewers in interactive dialogue about U.S. Foreign Policy and the conflicting ramifications of U. S. influence in the world. Using language and material from the kitchen, football, and the military, Jadick creates visual narratives. The narratives reflect a range of experience, from the individual to the universal, and ask viewers to ponder and comment on geopolitics, popular culture and consumerism. Familiar objects placed in new contexts become ventriloquists as they speak ominously of the threatening and dangerous consequences that may result wherever economic, military and political power is exercised.
Ms. Jadick presents an art process that enacts Democracy as it provokes dialogue about issues. Her pieces beg analysis of contemporary cultural discourse while exploring the historical locations of the particular moments and spaces in which they are presented. Reflection on the participatory and performative viewing experience itself is also promoted.
Questions are raised as the underlying themes of energy policy, war, social responsibility, current economic challenges and “unintended consequences” are referenced. What constitutes the political in political art? What responsibilities do viewers have to engage in the process? What are the costs of foreign policy decisions that focus on the preservation of our present day lifestyle? What is the significance of corporate and military omnipresence within the football milieu, especially as it metaphorically relates to U.S. foreign policy? What are the consequences of policy decisions that support a primarily fossil fuel based economy in an atmosphere of limited supply, increased demand, and aggressive pursuit of the resource; all amidst the worrying, and increasingly visible specter of environmental degradation?
Ms. Jadick encourages the open exchange of ideas and viewpoints and urges everyone to go out and “ENACT DEMOCRACY!”
“State your case, whatever it is, and may we all learn something from each other! Happy Independence Day!”