The McEachern Art Center in downtown Macon is displaying artist Brittany Coburn’s exhibit “Guilty Pleasures” until March 22. The exhibit takes a fresh look at taboo topics in an effort to kick start a deeper conversation about mental health and coping mechanisms.
The show feels playful and lighthearted until you get closer and see how the art work applies to your own life, Coburn said.
“I think it wakes people up a little bit. One to the importance of the conversation, but two, to the importance of facing these things within yourself,” she said.
Brittany Coburn’s “HPY OG” hangs at the MAC.
HPY OG
“Happy OG” is the foundational piece of Coburn’s exhibit. She made the original print when she was around 20 years old, she said.
“I didn’t even really realize until I was putting all my work together for this show that it also definitely serves as like the inspiration behind all those lips that I carve,” Coburn said.
Cast bronze donuts are displayed in Brittany Coburn’s “AMERICA RUNS ON…” artwork.
AMERICA RUNS ON…
Coburn said she made the donuts with her professor. They bonded over donuts and decided to create a piece dedicated to sugar as a vice. The New Jersey-based artist cast the donuts in bronze, making them heavy. Their weight, she said, represents the unseen depth and weight of the vice.
“LTS TLK ABT MTL HLTH” is displayed at the McEachern Art Center.
LTS TLK ABT MTL HLTH
The large open mouth called “LTS TLK ABT MTL HLTH” is the main point of the entire exhibit, Coburn said. The work’s title, devoid of vowels, is intended to evoke the entire exhibit’s message, which is to compel its viewers to talk about mental health.
“Your mouth is simultaneously a portal for your vices, but the tools for your salvation,” she said.
Coburn made four sets of smaller lips surrounding “LTS TLK ABT MTL HLTH” with vices displayed on them, called TOKER, HPY XR, SNF and HPY. The lips show that the vices someone may be dealing with are not as important as talking about mental health, which is why the open mouth is the biggest, she said.
The closed mouth, called “MY LPS R SEALD,” is meant to encourage and represent a safe space, Coburn said.
“I am a person that you can feel comfortable sharing, and I’m not going to judge you, and I’m not going to share any of your personal information with anybody else,” she said.
“Your mouth is simultaneously a portal for your vices, but the tools for your salvation,” Brittany Coburn said of her “BCKSTCK” artwork.
BCKSTCK
Through making a cluster of pills on the floor of the MAC, “BCKSTCK,” Coburn represents the idea of always having extra medication on hand. The piece is also interactive, whether by design or not.
“It was really, really exciting watching people interact with it and kind of not know what to do. A couple people tripped over it. A couple of people stepped on it. But then it forces you to look at it,” she said.
While some of the pills are unlabeled, Coburn said Xanax pills, which are prescribed to treat anxiety and depression, anchor the piece to elicit a conversation of medications for anxiety, depression and panic disorders. The pills have a powdery finish similar to the way a real tablet pill would have.
“The Pharmacy” shows viewers a substance that is to be “taken twice daily to reinforce self-love.”
THE PHARMACY
The pills then lead to the pharmacy installation, displaying bright pink pill bottles donning a label stating “view once daily to reinforce self-love” and “consumption may cause narcissistic tendencies.”
“It’s meant to be playful, and it’s meant to invite you in and help you understand that this conversation doesn’t have to be scary. Embracing your own mental health struggles and everything can actually maybe bring out the strongest version of yourself,” Coburn said.
Brightly colored “GMYBRS” sit in a row at the McEachern Art Center.
GMYBRS
Coburn said the resin gummy bears is one of her favorite pieces in the Guilty Pleasures show, because her main vices used to center around substances like joints, cigarettes and pills.
“Then I started to ask myself like, okay, what about you? What are your guilty pleasures? And what are your vices? And my biggest vice is sugar,” she said.
The figures evoke the classic gummy bear and the sugar that it contains, Coburn said that it is also reminiscent of marijuana-laced candy like edibles, which are growing in popularity across the country.
A resin brick filled with spent vapes is called “POPCRN LNG” for the disease that e-cigarette and vape use can cause.
POPCRN LNG
Coburn created “Popcorn Lung” by putting her friend’s old vapes into a shadow box which she filled with resin.
The artist noted that her friend warned her that the idea of labeling the spent vape cartridges with the title “Popcorn Lung” could be upsetting for an audience who has themselves vaped. Popcorn lung is caused by inhaling the chemical diacetyl, commonly found in vapes and e-cigarettes, and is an incurable disease. That concern about the artwork, Coburn said, is intentional.
“What’s the point of this work in this conversation around mental health, if it’s not a little bit triggering for people,” Coburn said.
Brittany Coburn said she made a “Self Portrait” so she could be vulnerable about vices alongside her audience.
SELF PORTRAIT
Coburn said the most important piece in the show is her self portrait.
“If I am asking other people to come into this space and feel comfortable being vulnerable, I really need to put myself out there,” Coburn said. “I really need to show that I’m being vulnerable and I’m talking about it, and here is all of the things, all of my guilty pleasures, all of the things that make me who I am.”
Coburn said she embodies the point of her work by being vulnerable, embracing and showcasing her guilty pleasures. Through her portrait, Coburn wants to motivate others to not be afraid of having conversations about their guilty pleasures, she said.
Artist Brittany Coburn collaborated with her fellow Savannah College of Art and Design alumna Krista Voto to create the final piece of the show.
Krista Voto Collaboration
Coburn collaborated with her fellow Savannah College of Art and Design alumna Krista Voto to create the final piece of the show. They created a playlist together because music plays a major part in both of their creative processes, and they painted a visual playlist in which viewers of the show can interact with, Coburn said.
“It’s all about reacting to the music and interacting in the space,” she said.
Coburn’s attention to detail is present in her work in the show, but she wanted to represent a different creative process in this piece to engage with viewers. The viewers can also see that the pieces they create are a part of the bigger piece, Coburn said.