High-speed anxiety

When reflecting on our lives, it can be difficult to differentiate reality from things we only think happened to us. Miami artist Kacey Westall Keogh says she frequently finds herself questioning whether some memories are true. "I noticed that I was constantly saying, 'Did that really happen?" she explains. "'Was that a dream or a memory?'"

Using a process that mimics the way people retain and recover memories, Keogh explores such uncertain recollections in "Drifted Dandelions," "I Can't See His Face Like I Used To" and other mixed-media works using graphite, ink, paint and found objects. She begins by writing about the memory in question on canvas or paper and draws the images she envisions. After that, she says, "I go through the process of covering it up, just layering and layering and covering the memory up and then, bringing some of it back. Like, I'll trace over the words that I already wrote. The drawing is what I'm left with after I've gone through the process."

Memories, transience and communication are among the subjects Keogh and more than a dozen other artists will explore in Future Shock, a two-day show opening Friday at Black Mangrove Collective in Miami.

Organized by Rosemarie Romero, a 22-year-old artist from Miami, the exhibition is based on futurist Alvin Toffler's 1970 book Future Shock. "He talks about the phenomenon of how everything in contemporary life, such as events, trends, objects and personal relationships, are turning over at an accelerated rate due to technological advancements, mass media and being forced to keep up with the latest," Romero says. "He claimed that if we don't adapt to cultural, political and social change, we experience future shock, which is the state of being unable to cope with the high speed of society."

After reading Toffler's book, Romero considered the struggle to keep up and the resulting tension in the art she and her peers have been producing. "I sensed this anxiety festering in the work," she says, "and I felt the need to contextualize it."

So she approached Black Mangrove Collective, an artist-run project. The resulting show will feature works by Keogh, Kiwi Farah, Orlando Estrada, Samuel Gualtieri, Cristina Molina, Roxy Ramos, TV, Nancy Trevino and an eight-artist collective known as the Human Observation Society.

Romero's art focuses on the media. "I'm a media junkie and a news addict," she confesses. "This addiction first came about after watching footage of 9 / 11 when I was younger and watching the war in Iraq and other conflicts unfold on TV and the Internet."

Bombarded by such imagery, she began to question and analyze mainstream media's 24-7 news and entertainment updates and her own obsession with following them. "I realized how transient it all was, so I decided to make a series of collages in which I layer junk mail and entertainment and iconic photojournalistic imagery on canvas that I rip and scrape to reveal hidden images underneath," Romero says. "I juxtaposed specific imagery to critique pop culture, politics and the media's obsession with and commercialization of tragedies, violence and entertainment."

Romero says the subject matter of Future Shock makes it a natural for Black Mangrove Collective, which provides space for creative exploration, political organizing and cultural interaction. "I was attracted to their DIY approach and their mission to provoke people to think critically about our culture," Romero says.

This show will be BMC's last event for a while, as the group, which formed two years ago at the Art Apartments in Little Haiti, is taking an indefinite hiatus that collective member Melissa Wallen attributes to too many responsibilities and too little time.

But Wallen, a fine-arts student at Florida International University, has been eagerly anticipating Future Shock since Romero, who graduated from FIU last year, approached her at the university's bachelor of fine arts show.

"She talked to me about the show, and it sounded really exciting," Wallen says. "I love the work and I spoke to some of the artists, and we just put this thing together."

Wallen's contribution to the show—which deals with media, history and modern folklore—will include a sculpture and a painting titled "Afghanitranny."

"It's kind of in jest and talking about the idea of being in an intolerant culture where being the slightest bit different can make you feel like a creature," she explains.

The artist says her creature is drawing comparisons to author H.P. Lovecraft's octopuslike monster Cthulhu. "I always gravitate towards a mental narrative that has to do with the sea because it seems like a complete breeding ground for uncertainty and makes you feel very small," she explains.

Federico Nessi's work in Future Shock also addresses a fear of the unknown. The Miami artist—who is known for his photography, video and performance art—will exhibit drawings of personified power structures in an installation that he says will have "a machines-taking-over feel, which is always the fear of the future."

Nessi is looking forward to exhibiting with younger artists. "I think I'm the oldest artist in the show," he explains. "It's interesting to me because there are these generations, these waves, of Miami artists, and I'm in the middle. I'm turning 27 soon, but I'm kind of at the end of the Hernan Bas and Bert Rodriguez generation, and this is a whole group of younger early-20s kids who are just starting.

"I've thrown parties with them," he says, "but I've never done an art show with them. They're respected in the local scene, and it's really cool that they're doing this."

Future Shock will open 8-11 p.m. Friday and continue through Saturday at Black Mangrove Collective, 138 N.W. 37th St., in Miami. Call 561-401-6847 or visit Myspace.com/blackmangrove. Contact Colleen Dougher at cdougher@citylinkmagazine.com.