New COD exhibit looks at celebrities and the scents they market
Quick, name a celebrity with a perfume.
Now, name three presidential candidates and the issues that define them.
More than likely, the first question was easier to answer.
The concept that Americans are much more likely to know about celebrities than key events like politics is at the heart of an exhibit at the College of DuPage.
"Celebrity and the Peculiar -- Industry of the Ordinary" is a look at everyday events or items by artists Adam Brooks and Mathew Wilson.
"The whole concept is to look at the ordinary, how much people know about celebrities," said Barbara Wiesen, director of the Gahlberg Gallery at the MacAninch Arts Center. "You'd ask them about politics and they might not know so much."
One of the ways they'll convey that point is through a sense of smell.
The exhibit will include several oxygen tents permeated with light scents of celebrity perfumes and colognes, such as David Beckham's "Instinct," P. Diddy's "Unforgivable," "Glow" by JLo, Mariah Carey's "M," "Diavolo" by Antonio Banderas and Sarah Jessica Parker's "Covet."
People will be challenged to determine if they can identify the scents -- and the stars, which is in itself a telling fact, she said.
The exhibit continues through March 1.
"The viewer is an important part of the piece. You just can't stand outside the glass," Wiesen said. "It's once people come in and encounter it that the experience starts happening."
The Gahlberg Gallery, Fawell Boulevard and Lambert Road, is open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday to Thursday; 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday; and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.
If you go
What: Celebrity and the Peculiar -- Industry of the Ordinary
Where: Gahlberg Gallery, Fawell Boulevard and Lambert Road, adjacent to the McAninch Arts Center, 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn.
When: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday to Thursday; 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday; and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. Also open during intermissions of events at the McAninch Center.
Cost: Free
Details: (630) 942-2321 or visit www.cod.edu/gallery/