Clare Patey and Matthew Moore Explore Copper Politics, Artwork, and Identity at ASU Art Museum

By Claire Lawton Fri., Feb. 8 2013 at 3:00 PM

Categories: Visual Art

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photo by Claire Lawton

Patey and Moore are accepting copper items on loan for the exhibition that will be displayed in the gallery for the duration of the show.

In the second space, Moore and Patey have created a functioning office for their copper mining company, which has a plot of land in Buckeye with a mine shaft that will be opened and ultimately closed by the end of the exhibition.

"Much of the company's work has to do with the 1872 Mining Act, which allows Democratic citizens to legally go through a process and stake a claim in the land below them," says Moore. "Culturally speaking, for me, that was such a Wild West thing, and something that was so democratic and totally absurd at the same time."

ASU Art Museum's Deborah Sussman says the artists will be working both in and outside of the space. Moore will continue research and will be in the gallery working with a variety of ASU science and art departments as well as the Marcos de Niza high school and local galleries throughout the exhibition. Patey will eventually travel back to London, but will still participate in the exhibition's growth.

"Art is such a great tool to peel back this complicated onion of a topic," says Moore. "And the magic of being in a museum is that we can talk about mining and the politics, and yet still understand the beauty of the object."

Cu²⁹: Mining for You opens tonight at ASU Art Museum at 6:30 p.m. and will be on view through May 11. For more information and museum hours, check out the ASU Art Museum website.

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