The MAC is proud to announce ‘Country Mile’ by Chris Wright Evans. In this exhibition, Brooklyn-based photographer and 2021 CADD Fund winner, Chris Wright Evans, lends an exploratory view onto the American interstate highway system: its regulars, notable sites, and commercial detritus. For the first time since their publishing, fifty-five photographs from his book, of the same name, are on view exclusively at the MAC. His body of work reimagines the cultural legacy of America’s highway system and the social and economic hubs built on its shoulders. Continuing the legacy of photographers like Dan Graham and his 1966-67 series, Homes for America, Evan’s breaks up the commercial grid of rural America into conceptually incisive still lifes, landscapes, and portraits. The show will open at The MAC on Saturday, May 21st with an opening reception from 6PM – 9PM and will run through Saturday, June 18th, 2022.
Artist Statement:
Country Mile is a series of photographs of highways, road stops, and places of cultural heritage that are stitched into the landscape of the United States of American by the Interstate system that connects them. Uniting a series of works made between 2013-2022, Country Mile is about the conundrum of being lost and not knowing it, and the paralysis of inaction that accompanies the conundrum. Set along America’s highways, the photographs create a portrait of the United States in stagnation, whether it be from traffic or absorbed with finding the picture-perfect angle for the socials. The title is a colloquialism that means, a long indefinite distance. Behind closed doors legislators used pork barrel bureaucratic alchemy to transform normal Americans into roads and bridges; is that you over there, or just a jersey-curb?
Country Mile was published by 153b, with support from the Contemporary Art Dealers of Dallas in 2022. The book contains 65 photographs, a short story by the photographer, and a poem by the multimedia artist Sean Lopez.
The Country Mile exhibition at the MAC in May of 2022, is the first full exhibition of the project, and showcases 55 photographs made during the course of the production of the project. The exhibition fills the North and South galleries at the MAC, and includes a new real time video piece that will be shown in the new media gallery.
About the Artist:
Chris Wright Evans is a multimedia artist whose work investigates the role of the familiar and its impact on culture and geography. Using a blend of photography, sculpture, and computer generated imagery. Evans demonstrates the interconnected relationship between these liminal landscapes and society to ponder how reality is constructed. Evans received his MFA from the University of North Texas in 2020. After graduation, photography from his project Country Mile was included in the Fort Worth Modern’s public art program, Modern Billings. In 2021, Evans received project funding from the Contemporary Art Deals of Dallas, and in 2022, Evan’s first book Country Mile, was published by 153b. Evans currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
ABOUT THE MAC
Founded in 1994, The MAC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts organization that stands as an advocate for creative freedom, presenting visual art in all its forms. It supports emerging to established local, regional and international artists by offering the opportunity for exhibition and experimentation and by providing a forum for critical dialogue, with inclusivity and promoting diversity as core values.