Some Assembly Required

For two weeks in early October, a vacant storefront on the ground floor of the historic Minnesota Building will be transformed into a temporary pop-up gallery.

This public art installation will feature screen prints and linoleum block prints by Erik Farseth, together with a new series of the artist’s distinctive cut-paper collages. In conjunction with this exhibit, the artist will be distributing copies of a full color 20-page art zine, featuring many of the images from the show.

“Some Assembly Required” features three dozen new pieces created over the past six months, between March and September of 2016. This same period coincided with a tumultuous year in American life, in which the headlines were dominated by news of bombings and police shootings, political extremism, and the sudden resurgence of atavistic nationalisms as a political force throughout the world. 

Created against the backdrop of a nation that seems to be tearing itself apart, “Some Assembly Required” channels that same feeling of global insecurity into topsy-turvy landscapes, baroque machine art, fragmented fairy tales, pharmaceuticals, and nightmare visions of a world gone awry; images that are offset by the artist’s graphic prints of endangered species, lonely owls, and mythological creatures. 

Coming out of the zine scene, Farseth has always been interested in wordplay, and the juxtaposition of images and text. His increasingly abstract collages are peppered with references to political speeches, cultural icons, and historic events, a breadcrumb trail leading back to the precursors of today’s cracked visions of American exceptionalism. 

Opening Night Reception and Zine Release Party
Saturday October 1st from 7-10 pm

Minnesota Building 
330 Cedar Street Suite #102
St. Paul, MN 55101

** Enter on the corner of Fourth Street and Cedar Street **

Cover Image Credit: Free Enterprise Painting, Cut Paper Collage by Erik Farseth, 2016