"Bits
and Pieces" coincides and celebrates Mary Lou Zelazny's
retrospective at the HPAC.
LiveBox is pleased
to announce that a collaboration between the HPAC
and Around the Coyote
will also bring "Bits and Pieces" to the ATC Gallery. Exhibition
dates for HPAC and ATC to follow.
Collage
never completes the story; instead it leaves openings for multiple
interpretations. Mary Lou Zelazny
The principle
of collage is the central principle of all art in the 20th century
in all media. Donald Barthelme
The use of appropriated materials and collage is so
widely used today that we are unaware of its dissemination in every
aspect of society. Everyday we are bombarded by sounds, images, ideas
and communications on the web. We are not only overwhelmed by this
fragmentation, we create our own realities from it and contribute
to the phenomenon through our own interactions on line.
The first techniques of collage have a long history,
appearing in China with the invention of paper around 200BC. A break
from the use of collage as a decorative method to a conceptual tool
came in the early days of modernism. Picasso and Braque, the Dada
artists, Duchamp, the surrealists, Rauschenberg, the fluxists, and
Pop Artists, are just a few of the artists and movements which brought
collage into the lexicon of American culture. The concepts of collage
are integral, not only to the visual arts, but to all contemporary
art mediums, including film, music, architecture, theater, performance
art, and dance. Within Pop Culture, “cultural collage”
can be evidenced in the lyrics and riffs of hip-hop and rap music,
or the remixes of films and other media found on YouTube.
One could simplify much of video art today as a collage
of images, sound and time. Furthermore, the abundance of editing tools
available to artists creates a seductive pull to fragment images and
sounds hoping to escape convention. The artists participating in “Bits
and Pieces” use the technical tools in a liberating dance, avoiding
redundancy and mediocrity by creating fresh formal and conceptual
visions. Participating artists: Gregg
Biermann, Sean Capone, Valerie George, Henry Gwiazda, Ellen Lake,
Jodie Mack, Ruth Pringle, Michael Szpakowski, and the ManosBuckius
Cooperative.
Program:
“Orpheus”,
1:56 min, 2005, Michael Szpakowski, from a series of dream diaries.
Szpakowski deploys simple drawings and collaged objects to “record”
moving dreams, creating an on-going journal. www.somedancersandmusicians.com/vlog/ScenesOfProvincialLife.cgi
“Lake”,
2:12 min, 2006/7, Sean Capone, an experimental sketchbook, created
using imagery shot solely with a cell phone camera, and edited in
collaboration with audio artist Caural (Zach Mastoon). The piece references
the Surrealists’ method “derive” used to create
abstract mappings of city areas by random urban wondering. In this
case the psycho-geographical traces were recorded by a cell-phone
camera and manipulated by a laptop computer wondering. In this case
the psycho-geographical traces were recorded by a cell-phone camera
and manipulated by a laptop computer. www.thesupernature.com/specialprojects.html
“Happy
Again “, 5:00 min, 2006, Gregg Biermann,
the signature scene from the Hollywood musical "Singing' in the
Rain" is split into seven layers. Each layer is moving at a different
speed and is visible equally in superimposition. At the temporally
central point all visual and audio elements coalesce in a single frame.
The result uncovers a new cinema, music and dance that are buried
within the familiar iconic sequence. uncovers a new cinema, music
and dance that are buried within the familiar iconic sequence. www.greggbiermann.com/
“The
MBC @ The Gallery”, 13:00 min, 2007, ManosBuckius
cooperative, the piece considers modes of exhibition (specifically
the pedestal), traditional standards of exhibiting art, and the implied
conformism of such standards. In video performance, the MBC appropriates
pedestals, transforming them into cohorts in a series of video studies
focusing on spontaneous movement, primary color, organic and inorganic
shapes, and the relationship between the animate and the inanimate.
Each video work became part of a larger video “quilt”
of simultaneous, yet independent parts - a colorful, ecstatic display
of patterned chaos. http://playgallery.org/videos/editor-picks/256/
“Watch
us go”, 4:06 min, 2008, Valerie George,
filmed in front of the Mission District Police Station in San Francisco
under the department’s surveillance cameras. Valerie George’s
work observes social cultural phenomenon where public and private
spaces converge. www.valeriegeorgeart.com
“Lost
Gas Station”, 8:14 min, 2006, Ruth Pringle,
was first a public art installation in Illinois which was edited into
a film. The artist discovered the lost gas station as a photograph
in a junk store. The piece collages images of the station with recordings
of individuals answering an ad about the gas station. www.ruthpringle.com/
“hanging……words”,
6:35 min, 2004, Henry Gwiazda, explores video and spoken word relationships.
The artist collages both the sound and image components of the piece
and then juxtapositions these fragments to create fresh impressions
and suggestions. http://gwiazda.u4eassp.com/?cat=15
“Downtown”,
1 min, 2008,
“Let’s
not keep score”, 1 min, 2008, Ellen Lake,
two shorts from a series combining 16 mm home movies from the 1930s
and 40s with cell phone and digital media today. Lake uses film and
video, past and present, to investigate ideas about personal diary,
collective memory, nostalgia, time, technology, preservation, and
the place where private and public experiences converge. www.ellenlake.com/
“Lilly”,
6:30 min, 2007, Jodie Mack, 16mm, film negatives and animation tell
the tale a WWII tragedy. An explosive collage of images and sound,
and voice that compels the viewer to discover the story. http://flavorpill.com/covers/yard-work-is-hard-work
