Lauren Adams (b.1979, Snow Hill, NC; lives and works in Baltimore, MD) mines the histories of early exploration, colonialism, and industrialization to make surprising connections that resonate with current sociopolitical issues. Working in a variety of media, from paintings and drawings to textiles and printmaking, she calls attention to obscure historical events and phenomena to explore the dynamics of power between labor and material culture. Inspired by historical decorative forms and designs such as Chinoiserie-style wallpaper, Elizabethan-era dress, pirate flags, and Soviet avant-garde agitprop from the early twentieth century, Adams’s hybrid objects and installations are purposely anachronistic and deeply relevant for suggesting how we value labor and its attendant outcomes today.

Adams presents a new installation in this satellite exhibition at EXPO CHICAGO. We the People is an interactive installation in which the artist has painted slogans from recent Occupy Wall Street and Tea Party protests into a reproduction of Revolutionary War-era wallpaper. Visitors to CAM’s booth (#520) can paint their own protest on a unique ceramic plate to be displayed during the fair, and receive a custom-designed tea towel that advertises the project in return.

EXPO CHICAGO/2012 took place from Thursday, September 20 through Sunday, September 23 on Chicago’s Navy Pier (600 E. Grand Avenue, Chicago, IL). Programming included /Dialogues, a daily series of panel discussions and conversations with leading artists, architects, curators, designers, and art professionals. On Friday, September 21, at 1:30, Dominic Molon (Chief Curator, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis) participated on the Contemporary Curator’s Panel, along with Michael Darling (Chief Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago) and Lisa Dorin (Associate Curator of Contemporary Art, The Art Institute of Chicago), moderated by Paul Laster (Editor, Artkrush). Visit expochicago.com for more information about the fair.