Mark Mothersbaugh: Myopia

Myopia is the first retrospective of the work of Mark Mothersbaugh, chronicling the beginning of his career in the early 1970s through the present. 

Best known as the lead singer of the American New Wave band DEVO, Mothersbaugh has also been a prolific visual artist since the band’s inception. Much of his artwork originates from ink drawings on postcards which he has been producing daily since the 1970s. Filled with outlandish characters and surreal settings, these postcards provide the basic imagery for a large part of his diverse body of work on view which includes paintings, sculptures, drawings, rugs and videos.

Combining handmade qualities and elements of consumer culture, Motherbaugh’s work explores the relationship between technology and individuality in an impersonal consumer-driven society. 

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website

Whether you go or not, the exhibition catalog, Mark Mothersbaugh: Myopia, features a lifetime of his creative inventions from the beginning of his artistic career to his most recent work, including early postcards, screen prints, decals, and DEVO ephemera as well as later paintings, photographs (such as the celebrated Beautiful Mutants series), sculpture, and rugs. This richly illustrated catalog positions Mothersbaugh as a legendary figure for fans of both street art and music culture, pivotal in the history of both contemporary art and indie culture.