Kim Abeles’ Smog Collectors, 1987-2020 features more than thirty years of artistic investigation related to the harmful effects of air pollution. This seminal series has received national and international acclaim for its intersecting dialogues within art and environmental activism. The exhibition is divided into visual narratives that connect the effects of smog in domestic spaces, to the earth, the human body, and in politics. Smog Collectors recontextualizes decades of art-science exploration with its unexpected presentation prompting the viewer to reconsider the air we breathe.
Abeles' art explores the harmful effects of smog and has received national and international acclaim, most notably in the series entitled, the Presidential Commemorative Smog Plates (1992). This body of work draws attention to US Presidents, from William McKinley to George Bush, and their varying policies associated with the environment. Abeles continues to explore the effects of smog utilizing narratives related to domestic spaces, the earth, and the human body.
Essay accompanying the exhibition written by Karen Moss, Director of USC Roski, MA Curatorial Program, Professor of Teaching, Critical Studies