32 Guys in a Room
Artist
Mike Lash
(American, born 1961)
Date1990
Mediumoil on canvas on wood frame
Dimensions24 × 28 in. (61 × 71.1 cm)
ClassificationsPainting
Credit LineGift of Dennis Nawrocki, 2018
Object numberUAC6609
DescriptionMike Lash’s artwork has an absurd charm. He has a penchant for the figurative, often including a reoccurring character of a business-casual bald man. The oddly proportioned man is usually seemingly ambivalent, despite finding himself in any number of strange settings. Often, the subject of Lash’s work is accompanied by a scrawl of handwritten text, revealing his wry sense of humor. His abstract illustrations, while still playful, can take a nosedive into the conceptual and bat around dark quirks of the human condition. 32 Guys in a Room features Lash’s favored blasé persona. As the title suggests, exactly thirty-two “guys” line a frame the color of stale bubble-gum. The inside of the frame remains empty, showing the wall beneath. In Lash’s witty way, with the busts of the men all facing inwards, they are given the appearance to be sitting around the perimeter of an empty room. The egg headed men, each showing their respective degree of apathy, peer across at one another in silence. It is a hilarious scene simply because of the awkwardness of it all; thirty-two pallid, lumpy heads coming together to compete in the office worker edition of a monastic vow of silence stand-off.
Lash received his MA in painting from Northern Illinois University and was later named Outstanding College Alumni in 2001 for the College of Visual & Performing Arts. His paintings have been exhibited around the world, specifically France, Switzerland, Yugoslavia, Hong Kong and Japan. His art can be found at institutions such as the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and the National Museum of Art. Despite his wide acclaim, Lash’s explanation of his work remains quite simple, as he is often quoted as saying, “I make stuff, mostly stuff that has no real reason to exist, but now, they do exist. Sometimes people like them. I hope you like them.”
Written by Samantha Hohmann
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