February 12th, 2024
Alyssa Davis, Secrets to Graceful Living, Radimir Koch and Anna Pederson
On view: January 13th - February 25th
Clever and pleasantly cerebral. Radimir Koch’s bio-futuristic sculptures interplay seamlessly with Anna Pederson’s embroidered textiles, intersecting themes of humanism, industrialism and technology.
Pederson’s black and white glass-beaded tapestries depict photos and anime-like characters. At first glance they semiotically oppose each other, yet their bifurcations are closely interwoven. A photo is generally ascribed the validity of reality. An anime character is an online vessel that houses the essence of a character. However, with customizable avatars sneaking into our devices and ingratiating themselves into our daily existence furthermore expanding the synthetic mediascape, makes one question the authenticity of capturing a moment in the near future. Which is more genuine? The technical execution of the beading supports this inquiry, as its precise flawless nature makes it difficult to determine whether it is hand-made or automated. The folk-inspired red embroidery is visually reminiscent of native eastern european textiles, adding a humanizing warmth, which one again reignates a dissonance. The pieces are sequentially numbered Doomed Avi 001, Doomed Avi 002, in a categorically playful way conveying that we are in fact the doomed avatars.
Radmir Koch’s sculptures are an infinite feedback loop of the organic, the mechanized and their subsequent synergies. Exo-Relic 002 is a bas-relief plaster sculpture depicting a floral frond (referencing the Mekhana series) disrupting the surface of water resulting in ripples. As if an unearthed fossil, the weathered plaster’s surface imperfections of cracks and crevices are enclosed in a contrasting hyper-futurist sleek 3D-printed frame. At the top of the frame is an extrusion that is quite vaginal, perhaps symbolizing a unified source of creation and the dissolution of inorganic/organic binaries. It’s title Exo-Relic suggests it indeed enacts as a religious object, a reliquary, - our human essence is enclosed within and dependant on a technological membrane, the coalescence of the two is at the forefront of fixation of modern society, a neo-religion of its own. In Koch’s Mekhana series three voluminous sleek and sinuous alien organic inflorescences spring out industrial seed-like hubs. The recurring presence of vents in the sculptures signify an exhaust, an expulsion of breath - the presence of life - yet sustained through mechanized means, relating back to themes of interdependence. The cyber-tech mechanical aesthetics manifest in ridges, grips, extrusions and buttons along the florals - suggestive of utilitarian use. Rapid-fire flashes of objects created to suit our organic needs burst through the mind - toothbrushes, vibrators, vacuums - one is forced to reflect upon the human desire to humanize, soften and streamline manufactured cold objects.
Secrets to Graceful Living is an eloquent interplay of the most concerning topics of today.
On view: January 13th - February 25th
Clever and pleasantly cerebral. Radimir Koch’s bio-futuristic sculptures interplay seamlessly with Anna Pederson’s embroidered textiles, intersecting themes of humanism, industrialism and technology.
Pederson’s black and white glass-beaded tapestries depict photos and anime-like characters. At first glance they semiotically oppose each other, yet their bifurcations are closely interwoven. A photo is generally ascribed the validity of reality. An anime character is an online vessel that houses the essence of a character. However, with customizable avatars sneaking into our devices and ingratiating themselves into our daily existence furthermore expanding the synthetic mediascape, makes one question the authenticity of capturing a moment in the near future. Which is more genuine? The technical execution of the beading supports this inquiry, as its precise flawless nature makes it difficult to determine whether it is hand-made or automated. The folk-inspired red embroidery is visually reminiscent of native eastern european textiles, adding a humanizing warmth, which one again reignates a dissonance. The pieces are sequentially numbered Doomed Avi 001, Doomed Avi 002, in a categorically playful way conveying that we are in fact the doomed avatars.
Radmir Koch’s sculptures are an infinite feedback loop of the organic, the mechanized and their subsequent synergies. Exo-Relic 002 is a bas-relief plaster sculpture depicting a floral frond (referencing the Mekhana series) disrupting the surface of water resulting in ripples. As if an unearthed fossil, the weathered plaster’s surface imperfections of cracks and crevices are enclosed in a contrasting hyper-futurist sleek 3D-printed frame. At the top of the frame is an extrusion that is quite vaginal, perhaps symbolizing a unified source of creation and the dissolution of inorganic/organic binaries. It’s title Exo-Relic suggests it indeed enacts as a religious object, a reliquary, - our human essence is enclosed within and dependant on a technological membrane, the coalescence of the two is at the forefront of fixation of modern society, a neo-religion of its own. In Koch’s Mekhana series three voluminous sleek and sinuous alien organic inflorescences spring out industrial seed-like hubs. The recurring presence of vents in the sculptures signify an exhaust, an expulsion of breath - the presence of life - yet sustained through mechanized means, relating back to themes of interdependence. The cyber-tech mechanical aesthetics manifest in ridges, grips, extrusions and buttons along the florals - suggestive of utilitarian use. Rapid-fire flashes of objects created to suit our organic needs burst through the mind - toothbrushes, vibrators, vacuums - one is forced to reflect upon the human desire to humanize, soften and streamline manufactured cold objects.
Secrets to Graceful Living is an eloquent interplay of the most concerning topics of today.