2050 and Beyond
Christina Gusek is a futurist. She looks to what will be instead of what is. Her exhibit at Holyoke Hummus Company, Year 2050 and Beyond, is a vividly terrifying vision of people distorted with machines on a psychedelic event horizon. This exploration of people and our relationships with the increasingly advanced machines we rely on, is full of beauty and wit. The artwork is fluid and hypnotic. Gusek’s humor and smart analysis is on point in “Being female: Year 2067,” of which a close up of the uterus is pictured above. In this piece Gusek has taken the penetrating male gaze and cranked it up to 11. The modern woman in this ink on ultra-white paper piece has ribs like ivory tusks, and a zipper running down the center of her body that comes together only after the bellybutton. Flathead screws, ostensibly there to hold her in place, seem unnecessary and painful. There is only a small suggestion that she has a heart.
The Artwork of Christina Gusek — Year 2050 and Beyond: Through Sept. 8. Holyoke Hummus Company, 285 High St., Holyoke. (413) 225-1755. holyokehummuscompany.com.
— Kristin Palpini, editor@valleyadvocate.com
