Nancy Dwyer's latest show, "Entitled to What," showing at the Firehouse Gallery critiques our contemporary material culture: our desire, urge and need to collect material objects to express our identity. Surely the possession of items codifies our existence, but in an age of such decadent excess in which the gap between those who possess and those who don't is ever-widening, what, as Dwyer questions, are we really entitled to?
The most impressive piece Dwyer offers is a wall of "stuff." Objects are offered to the viewer on multicolored paper plates. One instantly gravitates to those things she identifies with or those things she actually possesses herself (yes I do own a Jane Fonda aerobics video!). My eye was attracted to shoes, a book by Camille Paglia, eyeglasses, treats, a mirror. Once the viewer has latched on to things of personal significance, she starts to question other objects on the wall. Really you could stare at this piece for a lengthy chunk of time and have a lot of fun with it.
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