Etymologies I
London, 2017
Code, Custom Electronics, LED, Aluminium, Wood
Etymologies is series of geometric canvases illuminated by transitioning text drawing on the work of Roland Barthes, Marcel Proust, Daniel Dennett, and others. Collectively, the series addresses consciousness, authorship and memory.
Algorithmically driven, the text recalculates, reduces and expands, motivated by, but not a direct reflection of, human instruction. It suggests the presence of a co-contributor who simultaneously deconstructs the source text and the concepts of independent authorship, authenticity, the nature of appropriation in the Information Age and more importantly, independent readership.
Words are reduced to pure patterns which in turn, incite the viewer to rebuild order and the unique shape of each canvas highlights how our experience is shaped not only by the content, but by the environment in which it is viewed. And by viewing the work, we engage in a process of inference, seeking out logic and poetry, while simultaneously submitting to the complex, mechanical mind. The words of Roland Barthes resound; “the birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of the Author”.
Etymologies was shown as part of Counterparts, United Visual Artists’ first solo exhibition at Bitforms Gallery, New York 2018-2019.
