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"Nothing is more natural than mutual misunderstanding; the contrary is always surprising. I believe that one never agrees on anything except by mistake, and that all harmony among human beings is the happy fruit of an error."
— Paul Valéry (The Art of Poetry)

Imposter. A rank, accusatory word that haunts. It sticks in the teeth and echoes in the strongest minds when they are secretly weak. It can ruin and wreck without cause. It makes us look twice, and the second time is often full of lasting doubt and distrust.

It is with a nod to Valéry and his happy fruit we reevaluate assumptions and think hard on casual accusations whether they be muttered to ones self, quietly shared with friends, or shouted, literally or metaphorically, from the highest rooftops. By tying the word imposter to this exhibition we implicate art and its cohorts, truth and beauty, as being complicit in an ancient conspiracy. How do we evaluate originality? Where is the line between "inspiration" and forgery?

The cynical tendencies of contemporary work coupled with the postmodern practice of appropriation and sampling, make the idea of the imposter a far-reaching one. From Duchamp's farcical urinal to Sherrie Levine's deftly replicated photographs we are surrounded by that which is at once itself and the other. This duality calls into question that which is true. And if only one can be true than the other seems to require the label Imposter.

Each one of the artists represented in this exhibition is dealing in some way with this notion. Some are constructing the artifice knowingly while others have come to the conclusion almost subconsciously, as innocently as the viewer will. By this logic every piece is being forced into the role of the imposter by the viewer. We are the corruptors.

In each of the works, the contemporary human condition is examined. Are we imposters for protection? For manipulation? Or merely as a product of our environment? TILT Export: Imposter explores these questions with regard to content, material, and bias.

Watch interview with the curators here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY9-neYuZ5g
Interview with artist Heidi Schwegler here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CWAHDLv_0U&…