John F. Simon, Jr
dal 3/5/2002 al 8/6/2002
Segnalato da
3/5/2002
John F. Simon, Jr
Sandra Gering Gallery, New York
New Instructions. For his second solo exhibition, John Simon extends his creative process by using original software to mark and shape physical materials. The code Simon writes is now articulated outside of the computer screen through the use of a digitally controlled laser.
New Instructions
Please join us for the opening of John F. Simon, Jr.'s exhibition on
Saturday, May 4th, 6-8pm, at Sandra Gering Gallery, 534 West 22nd Street,
between 10th and 11th Avenues.
For his second solo exhibition, John Simon extends his creative process by
using original software to mark and shape physical materials. The code
Simon writes is now articulated outside of the computer screen through the
use of a digitally controlled laser. With the laser, Simon alters
materials that are well known, but are new to his body of work. This "new
media" includes Formica, Linoleum and Plexiglas.
New Instructions is composed of four groupings of work that point to a
common cultural ground of patterning and symmetry.
In Simon's screen based work, Swarms, one software program is presented
simultaneously across a broad window comprised of two 50" plasma
monitors. The software shows the formation and dissolution of symmetric
patterns as a metaphor for the temporality of our thoughts, ideas and
actions. The process of gathering and dispersing patterns is continually
reenacted by up to nine swarms forming a mesmerizing variety of
compositions and color combinations that will never repeat.
For the gallery floor, Simon has created a symmetric pattern of almost
1,000 individual laser cut Linoleum tiles, inspired in part by an M.C.
Escher drawing from the Alhambra. Simon's floor piece is a digital
improvisation of this centuries-old interlocking style. He brings to the
basic symmetry curvaceous shapes that are characteristic of computer-based
design.
Simon has also used the laser to create Plexiglas panels with which to
"tile" the gallery windows. These pieces screen the view of the outside
world while coloring the light entering the gallery. Both in function and
in composition, the Plexiglas panels express Simon's interest in the nature
of boundaries.
Finally, Simon captures moments of the Swarms software in four works of
intercut Formica. The fleeting, beautiful screen stills are translated
through a variety of carefully chosen and controlled laser cuts and
marks.
Artist's talk: John Simon will speak at the Guggenheim Museum on "Coding as
Creative Writing" on May 15 at 7pm. Simon will have a solo exhibition at
SITE Santa Fe opening on June 21, and at the University of Iowa Museum of
Art opening on September 7.
Sandra Gering Gallery,
534 West 22nd Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues