the (w)hole part. --video
This is some video documentation filmed by my brother Kamau Bilal of my MFA thesis installation called the whole part. In short:
This work is a narrative that traces the significance of the square and the cube through art, architectural, and philosophical tradition. It is comprised of mark making on disparate materials and surfaces- from file cabinets to cardboard- which are arranged as an “environment.” I juxtapose, fragment, and reassemble the materials, adding color and text in an alchemical process that transforms their respective and collective meaning. This also forms an unsettling harmony, creating a paradoxical sense of space, blurring boundaries between illusion and reality. The narrative illustrates cyclic transformation--layers of ongoing exchanges that occur between chaos and order, construction and destruction, clarity and obscurity, simplicity and complexity.
Paraphrased--there are layers of cycles constantly occurring within us and around us. Things are constantly folding and unfolding, being uncovered and veiled. layers are added and taken away as we discover. Cycles that we are intricately connected to--that we contribute to--that we take from. The process of making art for me is one such cycle--of perceiving the world, making sense of it, internalizing it, then externalizing by responding to it and thereby impacting it, shaping it, changing it.. Then the cycle repeats itself over and over as new ideas are formed... It becomes about exploring the relationship of the human being to the world inside and outside of himself---to act upon things and give them meaning through our relationship to them/perceptions of them.
The work plays a lot on the idea of Illusion and Reality--in an effort to make people challenge notions of what's real and what isn't in the search for purpose.
In the future I hope to continue to make work that is about the process of cycle and transformation, expanding on my developing interest in architecture, space, and incorporating elements of language and sound.
This work is a narrative that traces the significance of the square and the cube through art, architectural, and philosophical tradition. It is comprised of mark making on disparate materials and surfaces- from file cabinets to cardboard- which are arranged as an “environment.” I juxtapose, fragment, and reassemble the materials, adding color and text in an alchemical process that transforms their respective and collective meaning. This also forms an unsettling harmony, creating a paradoxical sense of space, blurring boundaries between illusion and reality. The narrative illustrates cyclic transformation--layers of ongoing exchanges that occur between chaos and order, construction and destruction, clarity and obscurity, simplicity and complexity.
Paraphrased--there are layers of cycles constantly occurring within us and around us. Things are constantly folding and unfolding, being uncovered and veiled. layers are added and taken away as we discover. Cycles that we are intricately connected to--that we contribute to--that we take from. The process of making art for me is one such cycle--of perceiving the world, making sense of it, internalizing it, then externalizing by responding to it and thereby impacting it, shaping it, changing it.. Then the cycle repeats itself over and over as new ideas are formed... It becomes about exploring the relationship of the human being to the world inside and outside of himself---to act upon things and give them meaning through our relationship to them/perceptions of them.
The work plays a lot on the idea of Illusion and Reality--in an effort to make people challenge notions of what's real and what isn't in the search for purpose.
In the future I hope to continue to make work that is about the process of cycle and transformation, expanding on my developing interest in architecture, space, and incorporating elements of language and sound.
this is really good. i am so inspired thank you very much. please explain how did you approach this idea? i am really interested.
ReplyDeleteThank you for reaching out, for your interest in this project and I'm so happy that it was inspiring to you! This project was basically the culmination of three years of thinking/working during my MFA program . the inspiration is actually a number of things that range from my interest in the difference between illusion and reality, cycles (that are evident in everything around us from the seasons of the planet to our process of thinking) alchemy, spaces and how human beings create senses of space and those effects of the space upon us, and how we go about forming meaning from things/the relationship between words and the visual world....it's hard to explain exactly how i approach this because it is a process of researching and working, reworking, re-researching and then allowing the work to unfold. but basically i made this whole environment/installation in a gallery over a period of about two-three weeks where i stayed almost everyday for many hours...i basically went into the gallery with a bunch of supplies, and made work there based on my ideas....and combined that with work i'd done separately in my studio with new work..and i allowed the work that i'd done before to evolve in response to the new work and the new gallery space...so it becomes a dialogue between myself, that space, and my studio space. hope that gives you a bit of insight and if you have more questions you are welcome to read my artist's statement!
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