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Article: Michael Arcega: de Young Museum.
- Article from:
- Artforum International
- Article date:
- December 1, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 Artforum International Magazine, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Walking a tightrope between the nerdish and the savvy, Michael Arcega's current exhibition at the de Young Museum maintains an amiably critical position. Its title, "Homing Pidgin," immediately signals the artist's penchant for puns, which he applies to hot-button topics like a kind of witty conceptual makeup. In this selection of sculptures, vinyl window treatments, and displays of objects borrowed from the museum's notable Oceanian collection, Arcega cleverly turns artifacts into multilayered jokes. He takes aim, as in previous projects, at aspects of colonialism--in particular at the knowing use of cultural stereotypes by the colonized--by exploring the associations of ...