“The Process” Original concept
Having always been a studio painter, working in isolation for months
at a time, with little or no contact with my audience, I find myself looking
for a way to reduce the distances between myself and my potential audience, a
way to include and communicate with them, even while I am in the act of working
on an exhibition. To attempt a solution to these problems I have determined to
make a “simple” experiment: to take over one salon of an art gallery,
transforming it into my studio, open the doors to the general public, and
transmit the entire process of the creation of an exhibition, live over the
internet.
“The Process” also represents the first materialization of a larger
ambition, which is to clear away some of the “mystery” surrounding traditional
forms of visual expression, and with the aid of modern technology, to open them
to the mass audience. In the instance of “The Process”, this is accomplished by
allowing those people too intimidated by the gallery atmosphere, or those with
only a slight curiosity for culture, to easily view and even participate in the
exhibition without having to physically enter the gallery. Those who choose to
participate in “The Process”, will be able to see, day by day, how an
exhibition is realized as well as to have the opportunity to make comments or
ask questions via email.
Statement
of conceptual development
“The process” began with a basic
concept of what I intended the ten paintings to become. The use of my self as a
model for these paintings was a choice of convenience rather than the intent of
making ten self portraits. The paintings are not meant to portray myself alone,
but to portray an individual from any part of the world where the
technological, social, political, and geographical changes have overcome the
individual’s ability to cope with the inner turmoil that these changes cause.
Thus the self portrait becomes a portrait of a new man under constant pressure,
attempting to keep pace with the speed of change and the demands of society
that he do so without missing a step.
To further strengthen the conceptual
foundation of these ten paintings I am looking to the active participation of
those people from around the world who are following the development of “the
process”. I am asking that they write me an email, telling me how they are
coping with the radical changes that the world is currently experiencing. How
does technology help them, how does it change them: their views, their dreams,
has its impact been a negative force in their lives? It is my intention to use
this material to farther develop the concept of the ten paintings being
produced through “the process”, by distilling this information and including it
directly in their visual contexts.
“the
machine made man”
There is also an interesting visual
parallel occurring in the ten paintings of “the process”. Due to the strict
time limitation I am working under, I am using computers and other modern
technologies to aid in the rapid development of my designs. This has exposed a
visual metaphor in my work that mirrors a true phenomenon of modern life, which
is to say, that while I use the modern technology to assist me in my work, the
modern technology also affects the actual result of that work. The images
become more and more pixilated. As if, the man were slowly beginning to view
himself in the language of his technology rather than the terms of his
humanity. This is an artistic reflection of what is currently seen all over the
world. We are creating and using technology to simplify and aid us in the tasks
of our daily lives and in turn the technology changes how we define our needs, expectations,
and concept of an acceptable standard of living…in a sense, it is as if man
makes machines and machines remake man.
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