Meet the Artist :: Jade Doskow

Jade Doskow is a current MFA candidate in photography at the School of Visual Arts in New York. Currently, she's been working on an obsessive project, documenting Worlds Fair sites across the globe.

new york state pavillion, queens, ny 1964

Antomium, Brussels 1958

I was drawn to her work because of the juxtaposition of these grand architectural forms that had been built for these fairs and the vacant spaces or, in some cases, unrelated cityscapes that now exist in that space.

Burodesign, Brussels 1958

according to the artist's statement about the project, the images in the World Fair series examine how a piece of architecture intended for a temporary purpose interacts with an unforeseen 21st century environment and how the ideas of each era’s Worlds Fair are reflected in these sites.

To me, her photos present a perfect mix of future thinking, nostalgia and a touch of loneliness- like when the circus leaves a town.

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Doskow will present a selection from this series for the DCAC show.

check out her travel blog here!- http://jadedoskowworldfair.blogspot.com/

Meet the Artist:: JoWonder

In 2006 artist, Joanna Woodward started to incorporate scientific themes in her work under the name JoWonder .

Most prominent are her video pieces in which she mixes up and plays out common themes of science, mythology, old wives tales and science fiction. He most recent work Flatlanders was created to draw attention to a scientific experiment which took place this fall at the Centre for European Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland.

here's an excerpt from her site:

...They will be conducting an experiment to try to recreate the sub-atomic structure of the Universe that existed immediately after the Big Bang. Some believe that they may find the elusive Higgs Boson -this is known as the 'God Particle' because of its importance to matter. Others worry that the experiment could unintentionally create a mini Black Hole, with all its fearful consequences...

..In ‘Flatlanders’, I would like to create a piece which challenges our perceptions of scale, time and gravity, reminding us that there are unseen dimensions to existence and that we are indeed ‘Flatlanders’ and that the frontiers of science reinforce this...In my installation, the activities depicted turn the logic of our world on its head; a ghostly woman dressed in an 18th century costume, rides on a swing while holding delicately balanced scales, as if like Aeacus from Greek mythology she will judge the situation. Below her, suspended on a giant cup of coffee, mortals roam aimlessly while out of the sky Icarus, both loses his wings and falls into the sea and regains his wings and is resurrected...

..For the sound track of the piece, I used live recordings of the scientists at work at CERN and the sound of the particle accelerator makes while the experiment was in action...

..I agree with philosopher David Gamez that maybe striving to provide a complete account of the world and our position in it is fatally flawed, because some of our best and most successful theories clash with each other or contradict their own basic assumptions. We want to understand everything about the world, but blindspots at the heart of our knowledge will always prevent us from achieving a final and complete description of reality for me art is an attempt to bridge that gap...

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For the DCAC show, JoWonder will be displaying Flatlanders along with two other videos.

for a glimpse at her body of video work, check out her page on the Saatchi web site here: http://video.saatchigallery.com/artist/details.php?id=16079

Meet the Artist :: Benjamin Edwards

I stumbled (literally) across Benjamin Edwards' work while moving into my new studio space in downtown DC. Ben's studio (a lot more organized than mine) has two glass doors that showcase whatever large-format painting he's working on.

aha! I said, when I saw his crazy landscapes full of computer generated shapes, bit-mapped text and strange characters against deserted backdrops.

Automatic City

After visiting his site, I was even more thrilled to read his writings and delve further into his work.

His images of houses look like CAD designs for outrageous McMansions.. perfectly fitting with the themes of excess I wanted to address in this show. The house images also remind me of science fiction writings that describe homes of the future with automatic fixtures, robotic arms a'plenty, and acid-green lawns.

House

Another series of Edwards' work is the Ether series which show a confusing world of clashing logos, characters, streets, spam texts and neon shapes.. to me they are like a 'spilling out' of the Internet onto a pristine space..like Vegas springing up in the middle of the desert, or what might happen if we ever did colonize mars..or if martians colonized earth!

Ether Study [Sera]

Ben will be showing pieces from these three bodies of work in the DCAC show.

promo materials!

The postcards and sunglasses have arrived, and I can't to plaster the city with them!.. I have to stay dilligent about not giving away too many pairs of 'new future' glasses out before the opening..they rock! below is the show card: