The works of sculpture and wall pieces installed in Fraternity, are meant to evoke the atmosphere of a young men’s student organization/policy think tank that you might find on campus at any number of universities and colleges across Canada or in North America.

Rodgers has described his practice as a kind of “stage management” that creates a fictionalized environment that proposes and establishes a concrete scenario at the same time that it is presented as an aestheticized object for intellectual scrutiny secured through what you might call Brechtian distancing effects.

Within the exhibit, minimalist sculpture becomes a platform for right-wing political pundits. To create the sculptures, Rodgers uses inexpensive materials of composite form – boxes, shelves and stacked sheets – the same materials that are utilized in constructions of short duration such as conventions and weekend political retreats.

Rodgers’ interest in collapse is pursued through the construction of these boxes and structures that are cut, stacked, packed and ready for shipment or recycling. The political paraphernalia that litter the exhibition, as Rodgers notes in his artist statement, provide “specificity, if not explication; context, if not revelation.” Fraternity draws upon provisional formalism, conservative subcultures and the rhetoric of radical individualism to create an installation that specifically engages with campus politics.