Artists explore multiple meanings of hip color trend “millennial pink”
Ann Arbor, MI (September 28, 2017) — Millennial Pink is the new multi-media art exhibition by the Ann Arbor Art Center that explores gender identity, pop culture, sexuality, politics, and shades of Pantone pink.
Much has been written about the generation of Americans dubbed “Millennials”. These are the folks born in the U.S. between the approximate dates of 1981-2001, bookmarked on either end by the beginning of the Reagan Years and the terrorist attacks of 9/11. This highly reported upon group have been much maligned (“Blame it on Millennials!”), rarely lauded (“Millennials are actually good workers”), and mostly misrepresented through its over-representation. One surprisingly simple trend identified amongst Millennials is the prevalence of the color pink in online media and consumer culture. Millennials are the first generation in living memory to see pink as a gender-flexible color that pervades contemporary fashion. Hip-hop, dominated by hyper-masculinity has also been dominated by pink for more than a decade. Kanye West, Jaden Smith, and Young Thug frequently style themselves in women’s wear, yet pink has also been embraced by many contemporary feminists as witnessed by prevalence of pussy hats at the Women’s March. Pink is the color of candy, but pink is also the color Kendall Jenner paints her walls to suppress her appetite. The dichotomies are abundant as this generation is one of fluid identities, pick-and-choose politics, and blurred lines between virtual/online spaces and IRL (In-Real-Life).
The artists in this exhibition embrace any combination of color formalism and abstraction, iconography of the internet, personal identity politics, gender liberation, and celebratory critiques of consumerism. This exhibition portrays a series of crystallized moments in a spectrum of shifting cultural norms all unified by a single color.
Millennial Pink opens with a free, public kick-off party on Friday, October 6 from 6:00pm to 9:00pm at the Ann Arbor Art Center (117 W. Liberty St.) with food provided by Tavolina Catering and a special-release pink beer courtesy of O & W Inc. The exhibit runs through November 4, 2017.
Exhibiting Artists: Ash Arder (Detroit, MI), Heidi Barlow (Detroit, MI), Emmy Bright (Detroit, MI), Carson Davis Brown (Los Angeles, CA), Anna Campbell (Grand Rapids, MI), Debbie Carlos (Lansing, MI), Gabrielle DeCaro (Pasadena, CA), Nicole Dyar (Houston, TX), Riley Hanson (Philadelphia, PA), Shaina Kasztelan (Detroit, MI), Jeff Kraus (Brooklyn, NY), Chelsea Lee (Richmond, VA), Elise Mesner (Los Angeles, CA), Victoria Shaheen (Detroit, MI), Sophie Yan (Detroit, MI)
For more information about Millennial Pink visit https://www.annarborartcenter.org/exhibitions/millennial-pink/
About the Ann Arbor Art Center
For 107 years, the Ann Arbor Art Center has been sparking creativity in people of all ages and artistic abilities. Our mission is to be a contemporary forum for the visual arts through exhibition, exploration, and education, and to expand perspectives and ignite growth in students, artists, and the community. In this work we aspire to be a gathering place that serves artists and the community in four distinct, yet related ways: Exhibition, Retail, Education, and Community Engagement.
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