LOOK INTO MY OWL

First off, “Inversions” is not just another video, it is a transportive experience. Review should not be your first encounter with this work. Please scroll down to the bottom of this post and watch the twenty one and a half minute piece. Fullscreen is highly recommended. Disappear into the New Mexican desert, remember the Chaco people and forget yourself for a while.

Paul Humphrey, Inversions, still from video, 2011.

Paul Humphrey has been producing amazing film and video work for nearly two decades. Personal experience couples with new observations in charming ways that consistently acquaint his audience with vast areas of possibility.

Paul Humphrey, Inversions, still from video, 2011.

Since the sundering of the Pangaen supercontinent, countless civilizations have risen and vanished. The ruins of these people stand as constant reminders that that we are all connected. Technology has succeeded in reuinting our natural boundaries but largely, where we have been remains as much a mystery as where we may be headed. Present time floats in conundrum and yet most human endeavor begins in the luxurious state of certainty.

Paul Humphrey, Inversions, still from video, 2011.

Humphrey accepts our prime failure and embraces it as keystone for new enterprise. There is a freedom to his approach that saturates each frame with a hegemony that saddles truth.

Paul Humphrey, Inversions, still from video, 2011.

Themes in this video fold in and out resulting in a fourth dimensional mandala that envelops a virtual place behind the eyes. The resulting creases reunite time and space in a veritable display of the nonlinear physics of the universe. We are brilliantly led into this remote state with flashes from the color spectrum and retrieved similarly at the conclusion.

Paul Humphrey, Inversions, still from video, 2011.

During the experience, an innate human sense kicks in that forces the audience to participate in the video in the same way that they are in the near past, ancient time and potential futures. The body fuses connections that the mind ignores. Stand in the sand and look around. Become the mountain, recall the Chaco and ride the contrail.

Paul Humphrey
Inversions, 2011
High Definition Video
Shot in Chaco Canyon, NM
Camera, Editing, Graphics by Paul Humphrey
Sounds culled from archive.org
Quotes taken from the television program “Max Headroom” (1988-1989)

Images and video courtesy Paul Humphrey.

A large sound based installation by Zimoun has been installed at Bitforms Gallery in Chelsea. In addition to the large cardboard sculpture, the gallery is hosting a selection of smaller works by the artist on the sixth floor of the same building.

Zimoun, Volume, installation view, 2012.

Visitors to Bitforms are met with a solid wall of cardboard boxes rising nearly to the ceiling. Small muffled thuds are audible emanating from each box. The wall creates a hallway that leads the visitor around to an opening permitting access to the interior of the structure. The opening acts much like the bass port on a speaker focusing air and sound toward the listener.

Once inside, the secret origin of the sound is revealed to be small motors attached to each box surface churning a length of wire. Each spinning wire terminates in a compressed ball of cotton that taps the box in constant rhythm. The sound stage created relaxes the mind with a saturated white noise that transports the consciousness even if just for a moment. I suspect that the vibrations also stimulate the pineal gland but there is no reference that verifies this as intent.

Zimoun, 25 Woodworms, Wood, Microphone, Sound System, HD video loop, edition of 6, 2009.

The large room installation will surely make you want to continue to the pieces on the sixth floor. Some beautiful smaller sound sculptures founded on similar principles are in operation alongside a brilliant interactive visual “mirror.” Also, the video loop of 25 Woodworms, Wood, Microphone, Sound System pictured above is playing its eerie sound of specialization at work.

There are currently two weeks left in the huge exhibition celebrating Zimoun at The Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida. The video below, produced by the museum, offers excellent documentation of the work.

Zimoun
2 February – 10 March 2012
Bitforms Gallery
NYC

Images courtesy of Bitforms Gallery.

Jasmin Singer from Our Hen House has just put together this great interview with Sue Coe. There is a lot to admire in the process and product of Coe’s work. I am also struck by the inventiveness of Our Hen House and imagine their message of “… a new world for animals” as a glimpse toward our evolution as better humans.

Curators Lauren Gentile (Contemporary Wing) and Ginger Shulick (Big Deal Arts) have pulled off a truly beautiful video exhibition. Fifty floors above the city of Miami, the Ivory Tower is a thoughtfully composed taste of pure delight. Seven artists have been brought together to showcase a diverse menagerie of work. Moving room to room in this wonderful space located in the Marquis Residences building was an adventure that held surprises around each corner. If you are in Miami for the art fairs, do not miss this stunning event.

Tiffany Carbonneau, Here and Now, unique projection approximately 20 stories tall, DVD, 22 minutes, 2011.

Tiffany Carbonneau, Here and Now, unique projection approximately 20 stories tall, DVD, 22 minutes, 2011.

Phillip David Stearns, Apeiron / Peras V & IV, DVD with bonus material, 21 minutes, edition of 500, 2009.

Nia Burks, Angry Gamers, DVD, 3:03 minutes, edition of 5 + 2 AP, 2011.

Nia Burks, Angry Gamers, DVD, 3:03 minutes, edition of 5 + 2 AP, 2011.

Nia Burks, Angry Gamers, DVD, 3:03 minutes, edition of 5 + 2 AP, 2011.

Sean Capone, High Rise, DVD, 6 minutes, edition of 10, 2011.

Paul Moakley, Balls Flying Everywhere, DVD, 30 minutes, edition of 25, 2011.

Paul Moakley, Balls Flying Everywhere, DVD, 30 minutes, edition of 25, 2011.

Paul Moakley, Balls Flying Everywhere, DVD, 30 minutes, edition of 25, 2011.

Paul D. Miller (DJ Spooky), Ice Sonification, Antarctica Project, DVD, 8:08 minutes, edition of 5 + 2 AP, 2011.

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Alex Villar, Breaking into Business, DVD, silent, 9 minutes, edition of 5 + 2 AP, 2011.

View from the Ivory Tower exhibition, 2011.

Ivory Tower
1 – 4 December 2011

“People,” from Gillian Wearing, is the first major NYC solo show for the artist since 2003. The exhibit encompasses a wide variety of media and fills both floors of the Tanya Bokandar Gallery on West 21st Street.

Gillian Wearing, Me as Warhol in Drag with Scar, framed bromide print, 63 3/8 x 51 1/2 inches, 2010.

The work collected for this display includes video installations, photographs and sculptures. This diverse array blends seamlessly as the viewer is introduced to one acquaintance after the next.

Gillian Wearing, Gervais, painted bronze on plywood plinth , 15 1/2 x 4 7/8 x 6 3/4 inches, 2010.

Identity skates very thin ice in all of these works. In the shuffle, it can be easy to lose a sense of self when empathy takes root. You can’t hear it in these still images but words are the pure energy that ribbons through all of the media. The Art here is experiential, get to the gallery and make the breakthrough.

Gillian Wearing, Secrets and Lies, video for monitor with sound, 53 minutes, 16 seconds , 96 x 69 x 97 inches, 2009.

Gillian Wearing
People
5 May – 24 June 2011
Tanya Bonakdar Gallery
NYC

After months of work and hundreds of buckets of paint the latest wall animation from Blu is ready to thrill you. Scroll down to the bottom of this post for the video in its entirety.

Blu, Big Bang Big Boom, still from video, 2010.

“Big Bang Big Boom” is a narrative, frame-by-frame animation that runs a course from the initial big bang that sparked our Universe to a hypothetical end to our own planet.

Blu, Big Bang Big Boom, still from video, 2010.

Despite the potentially alarmist nature of the material, Blu’s sense of play can be felt running through the entire video. This endearing quality is enhanced with a marvelous soundtrack by Andrea Martignoni.

Blu, Big Bang Big Boom, still from video, 2010.

This is the most impressive animation that Blu has done to date. This is saying a lot as there has been some astonishing work in the past. “Big Bang Big Boom” continues to evolve with new ideas in addition to providing a perfect balance of two and three dimensional animation with powerful transitions.

On Tuesday, June 22, Dread Scott performed “Money to Burn” in New York City’s financial district. The project was made possible, in part, by the Franklin Furnace Fund.

Dread Scott, Money to Burn, still from video, 2010.

The artist meandered among the midday money manipulators bellowing “Money to Burn!” The repeated outcry was presented generally as a statement and then to individuals in the form of a question. Scott burned several of his own bills and then those from interested bystanders. The crowd soon attracted the attention of police and they began also to gather around the performance. Eventually, the law swooped in and put an end to the interaction issuing the performer a citation for disorderly conduct.

Dread Scott, Money to Burn, still from video, 2010.

The action raised a lot of questions that offer no simple answers. It is interesting to note, however, that it is very easy to land a court date in this country. Here is video of the interplay as released by Dread Scott.