Neal Reinalda

Artist Statement for Propositions

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A paradox can be defined as a true statement that leads to a contradiction which challenges intuition.  Much of my recent work aims to explore the space of contradiction between ideas and objects, aiming to inspire a re-evaluation of the importance of objecthood in our every day lives.

Ding Ren

Artist Statement for Propositions

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Set in 1967 Paris, Jean-Luc Godard’s film, La Chinoise, depicts five revolutionary youth plotting action to accompany their Marxist-Leninist philosophies. In a passing scene, the male protagonist proclaims, “it’s not silence that scares me, but sound and fury,” wherein for a moment, the audience feels that these youth may break free of the idealized political image they have created for themselves—they might choose silence over naïve ferocity, and they might think before they act. It is within this potential moment of silence and inaction that I locate my artistic practice. Despite the different media of my work, the overarching philosophy that guides my decision making process is rooted in notions of silence and nothingness. In a “bigger is better” era of record breaking auction prices and blockbuster art exhibitions, I believe in the potential of refusals, of thinking small and taking a step back to notice and reflect upon the in-between, barely there moments.

For Propositions, I have created two pieces that specifically use the Area 405 space and the context of the exhibition to literally address the potentialities of simple nuances.

Line Research (Propositional Version), features a slide projector on the floor, which is propped up by propositional texts collaboratively selected by the curator, Stephen Dewyer and myself through email correspondence.  The projector shines an image onto the wall of the exhibition space with the phrase “A PROPOSITION STARTS WITH A LINE” written with rub-on-letters atop a pencil drawn line.  Line Research (Propositional Version) is a self-referential piece, in that the slide of the drawn line and text directly refers to the stack of books. The piece also alludes to the need to gain knowledge and conduct research before taking any sort of action, which, in an art historical, institutional setting, often occurs in a dark lecture hall with images projected on the wall.

The Map Is Not The Territory piece is created from the already existing paint chips, peels, and gauges, which pervade the Area 405 space.  The positive and negative shapes created from the wall’s imperfections serve as cartographic markers as I match the abstract shapes with actual map locations.  This gives the otherwise disregarded imperfections a literal location, matching them with islands, bodies of water, states, and territories.  To accompany the matches, a plaque outlines the etymology of the territories, which grounds the otherwise abstracted shape with both a location and meaning.  In creating the map diagrams for the plaques, neighboring territories are erased so that the map location is isolated, with nothing but explanatory text locating it.  This act of eraser is essentially a disorientating cartographic nightmare, but it links the actual map locations with the found shapes on the wall.  Since these found shapes are disorientated and have no context to begin with, they are assigned a cartographic one.  The Map Is Not The Territory piece finds potential in the already existent nuances and imperfections of the Area 405 space.

Glenn Shrum

Artist Statement for Propositions

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My work is an investigation of the interrelationship of light, space, and time.  My involvement in creating installations that enable heightened sensory experience is driven by the belief that events of perceptual depth have become increasingly rare in our lived experience of the world. 

Our perception system remains if flux.  In the words of Heraclitus, “Change alone is unchanging.”  This understanding has led me to engage the interval between perceptual events as a primary concern.  By focusing on spatial and temporal voids and making this in-between legible, I aim to demonstrate the relational nature of phenomena. 

I’m also interested in the potential for light to be simultaneously mysterious and factual.  No artistic medium is more identified with spirituality than light but how can the deployment of light determine the way its meaning is understood?  By creating viewing experiences that use the mechanics of the lighting system to demonstrate the illusory possibilities of illumination, the viewer decides which aspect of the work has the most value to them.  I’m interested in exposing the subjective lens that determines when we see light.

For Propositions I have created two new pieces that are in direct response to the Area 405 space. 

Located in the front gallery, Voltage Drop, 2008, is a site determined installation made up of a single theatrical projector and several hundred feet of common extension cords.  This work is intended to engage both peripheral and direct vision, indicating the dynamic nature of perception.

Safelight, 2008, an installation that includes multiple light sources and a large photographic print on canvas, is located in the rear gallery space.  The mechanics (lamps, cords, timers, supports) are an integral element of the display.  The spatial configuration and spectral composition of the various light sources result in a range of lighting effects.  The primary function of some light sources is to illuminate the surrounding gallery space while others have a greater effect in producing the photographic image.  Processing of photograms will take place during the exhibition, becoming a component of the work that presents distinctly different meaning over time and underscores the shortcomings of photographic documentation when conveying first hand experience of the work.

Elena Volkova

Artist Statement for Propositions

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Several concepts come to mind when thinking about liminality: uncertainty, openness, potential, as well as the state of becoming, transition, and neutrality.  From a practical perspective, this is the state of Neither-Nor or Either-Or, quantitatively holding the same value and relevance in opposition.  The Liminal surrounds us; it is the periphery of every moment of our existence, the behind-the-scenes background of our reality.  It makes no judgments or assertions and it constitutes our everyday mundane poetry.  It is simply there.  In the liminal state, the boundaries and factors dissolve, bringing overlooked but existing moments to the foreground.  

The Window Project

A window is liminal.  It is a transition between the inside and the outside, being neither one nor the other – or perhaps it is both.  Windows bring us glimpses of what is on the other side.  They are the lens through which our expectations, our hopes, and often our disappointments are brought to reality.  However, windows remain neutral and indifferent to our outlook and perceptions.    

The Window Project is about liminal space.  It is a site-responsive installation that utilizes the windows in the Area 405 gallery.  The Window Project challenges our perceptions and expectations;viewers expecting to encounter windows can instead find themselves facing a brick wall.  This is a reality that defeats the entire purpose of a window; it presents the viewer with a window to nowhere.  These windows create absurd situations in which our expectations and judgments are inconsequential.  All possible romantic notions about windows fall – they are transformed into dysfunctional architectural elements that have a disconcerting impact.  However, if a window is a neutral entity and only the means to either confirm or reject our expectations regarding “the other side”, it still serves its liminal purpose.  It is still merely a threshold.

Paperscapes

Paperscapes is a series of graphite drawings that also focus on the idea of liminality.  Paperscapes are drawings of blank pieces of paper on white paper.  By definition, a “scape”, as in landscape, is an expanse of scenery, a vista; it is a representation of something extensive.  Paperscapes present the viewer with a blank page, a field, a vista where nothing is happening.  But at the same time the drawings suggest potential and the state of becoming.