Monday, April 18

Post Ice Jellies

In the fervor of ideas and energy generated during and after the Ice Jellies opening at the Hampden Gallery I've been playing with thoughts of metaxis, spirit and aesth-ethical - all arising from conversations with fervent artists and curators.

Seems we are aiming somewhere new and shiny. It feels as if we are reaching not outward but inward toward the brightness of our being.  Somewhere just beyond . . .

Tuesday, March 29

Ice jellies to prana

Yesterday we hung the Ice Jellies at the Hampden Gallery at UMass. Very fun and playful. 

Here's a Ice Jelly Two and the show statement:



Ice Jellies



I’m thinking about how glacial ice and jelly fish each appear lit from within. And this leads me to the idea of bioluminescence and the light within each human heart. And I’m thinking about how this light connects me with the existence of grace and beauty. And how beauty is substantial.
I’m thinking about a new digital smart grid for energy distribution. And I’m wondering if we can restructure our world from the vision each of us holds in our hearts.

My work begins with my iPhone. It’s my connection to everything and it’s pure play between the ecosphere and the pixelated world. For me pixels are something that just crosses the border between invisibility and visibility as light. This light or energy flows across digital networks to synaptic networks and back again as a moving continuum. We are now connected in real time through light.

I’m thinking about the symbiotic relationship formed in the union of the dry silicon virtual medium with the wet biological medium of paint. For me combining the virtual and the natural worlds is similar to integrating the personal and global. Moistmedia redefines this process with the knowledge that it imbeds itself in the narrative and anchors spaces that otherwise would be enveloped by images formed from either an apparent world or a distant external world. And in this synthesis exists a new form beauty.

Working with aluminum I am reminded that pragmatism is the substrate for idealism.  Aluminum reflects light as quivering and shimmering mirroring the inconstant flux of the eco-digital sphere. From this felt sense my inner light is ignited and made clear, definite and real. And with this spark I can reclaim my ability to see and feel the hidden light that rejoins me with the wave of life.

The leading edge of this wave between the visible and invisible is where every hope and desire and dream I have expands me and moves the wave forward.



namasté

Michelle



“Moistmedia” comes from Roy Ascott who used the term to describe an emerging substrate for 21st century art. I think he is correct. We are beyond the post-digital era where digital technology was a novelty in making art. Now digital technology is an integral part of the process.

Monday, March 28

About the artist gallery relationship

In the aftermath of my recent experience with a gallery I have come to some realizations on the gallery artist relationship. I thought I'd share them with you.

For me a significant part of my art making involves interacting with people either in the virtual world or the real world. My interactions come from multiple venues like my website, or Facebook, my blog and other blogs, ecards, school and university talks and shows. I don't consider this marketing. I consider it my relationship with my world and it's part of making my art. It's part of being alive.

Much of my work is about how we connect with each other. How we choose to interact and how these relationships grow is what will matter. A new culture is emerging. A culture that is questioning concepts of authority, hierarchy, institutions - all relationships. Just look around it's everywhere. And so the questions are about how we restructure our institutions, how we restructure our workplace and our work relationships. These are some difficult but necessary questions. And they can't be answered through mandates nor through trying to carry forward an old paradigm that holds fear and mistrust.

As we move forward and evolve we will expose the under girding of a broken system because surely we can feel the untruths. If we truly care about the welfare of one another, we'll try to create a way that is mutually beneficial and ethical for each. But we can only do this through honest and open dialogue not through a hierarchical system of mandates.

Until then I can live comfortably in the shifting gray zone. And truth be told I prefer transparency and expect it from my galleries, my viewers, collectors, other artists.