Review ~ “Empowerment”

Hope Springs Eternal: Ryder Richards at CASP

by Hannah Dean December 17, 2018

empowerment windmill ryder richards lubbock

Once, someone who grew up in Boston told my brother that people who grew up in rural areas were stunted. I guess I know what she meant, but there’s something about growing up in the sticks that makes you extremely self-sufficient. If some sort of apocalyptic collapse happens, guess which folks know how to kill and dress an animal, store seeds and grow food, and have an arsenal of booze (what else)? My point is, there’s a culture of survival in rural places that permeates everyday life.

This do-it-yourself-ism, gumption, grit — whatever you want to call it — is the impetus for Ryder Richards’ installation, titled 2018 Empowerment, at the Charles Adams Studio Project (CASP) that debuted on a FFAT in Lubbock in December, as part of CASP resident J. Eric Simpson’s curated exhibition series. It consists of, primarily, a set of camper chairs, speakers, the kind of LED light strips found in airplanes and glampers’ RVs, an open ice chest complete with ice and beer (help yourself!) that is also propping up a double-screen viewing of Sharknado 3. All this is set upon large AstroTurf mats and is overseen by a makeshift wind turbine composed of Home Depot buckets, an array of batteries, and a plugged-in set of fans that keep the turbine propelled.