When I Grow Up...looks at aging in society at the ASU Art Museum

David Greenberger, The Duplex Planet Illustrated, comic books, 1992-95


Photo courtesy of Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts

May 31, 2004

TEMPE, Ariz. – A peek at life inside a nursing home, senior citizen pom-pom girls and a grandmother’s walk to church are indelible images represented in the ASU Art Museum’s When I Grow Up… exhibition that runs May 22 – Sept. 11.

“This exhibition shows the possibilities for our future and the everyday contemporary concerns of seniors in our communities,” says curator John Spiak.

The multimedia exhibit features the work of artists Danielle Abrams, Troy Aossey, Vincent Goudreau, David Greenberger (The Duplex Planet) and Jessica Ingram. Videos, photographs and comics will be on display.

Some of the images are uplifting, like Aossey’s Sun City West Jazzy Poms photo series featuring senior citizen women cheering in costume. Others, like Goudreau’s Villa Capri video, show the stark reality of life inside a nursing home, complete with brutally honest interviews of some residents.

One area of the exhibition will include easy chairs for the leisurely reading of Duplex Planet magazines and comics created by Greenberger, a former painter and nursing home activities director. “My mission [with Duplex Planet] has been to offer a range of characters who are already old, so we get to know them in the present, without celebrating or mourning who they were before,” he said.

Granma’s Walk to Church is a series of photographs taken by Ingram of her grandmother walking through the countryside on her way to church. “My family is afraid of Grandma walking alone to church,” says Ingram. “But at the same time, we’re happy for her independence.”

The ASU Art Museum, named “the single most impressive venue for contemporary art in Arizona” by Art in America, is part of the Herberger College of Fine Arts at Arizona State University. The museum is located on the southeast corner of Mill Avenue and 10th Street in Tempe and entry is free. Hours are 10 a.m. – 9 p.m. on Tuesdays (during the academic year), and 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. For more information, call (480) 965-2787 or visit the museum online at http://asuartmuseum.asu.edu.

  • Troy Aossey, from the Sun City West Jazzy Poms series (Eleanor), C-print, 2004

    Photo Courtesy of Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts

  • Troy Aossey, from the Sun City West Jazzy Poms series (Juliana), C-print, 2004

    Photo Courtesy of Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts

  • Danielle Abrams, The Dew Drop Lady, video, 2004

    Photo Courtesy of Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts

Media Contact:
Denise Tanguay 
480.965.7144
denise.tanguay@asu.edu