Remember the last article about New York MoMA PS1's Summer Weekend parties? This time around YiArt recommends Moma PS1's recent exhibitions.
Ian Cheng: Emissaries (2017/4 / 9-9 / 25)
Ian Cheng is a US based artist who works with digital media. Born in San Francisco, Ian Cheng graduated from Columbia University with a MFA in Visual Arts, but his first degrees were from Berkeley in Cognitive Science and Art Practice. It is his Cognitive Science background that provides the scientific basis for his works, which he refers to as "live simulations". Through these images participants can deconstruct the virtual history of reorganization, and re-establish their existing imaginations. His work inspires the audience to think of technology as more than a reflection of the human mind, but also a historical tool for human consciousness to expand. Ian Cheng used gaming platform "Twitch" to create "Emissions", using gaming engines to create game-inspired art or rather, life-inspired games: without a fixed result or a narrative, the work feels true to life and human consciousness in its acceptance of chaos. Ian Cheng has exhibited widely internationally in museums including MoMA PS1, Whitney Art Museum, Tate Modern Art Museum, Washington Hirsch Art Museum.
"Past skin" is another series from MoMA PS1 that utilized painting, sculpture, sound, video, and virtual reality artwork by six different artists in order to explore the development of technology in the context of human interaction. YiArt focuses on two of these artists, Jordan Kasey and Hannah Levy.
Jordan Kasey specializes in paintings that use gentle and delicate brush strokes to depict the human body in all of its gentleness. The characters in her paintings are true to life, doing mundane tasks like eating cereal with milk for breakfast, sunbathing at the beach, or watching TV while eating dinner. The artist cleverly uses overlaying shadows and silhouettes, only revealing portions of the body to create a visual sense of uncertainty, making the viewer work to piece together the story of these character's lazy days based on the partial information. Jordan Kasey uses close ups to paint a personal images, creating a fantasy world for the audience to finish in their imagination.
Hannah Levy, though only 26 years old, is an active participant in the art world, exhibiting internationally. Hannah Levy observes the nature of everyday objects while reorienting them, giving the viewer the opportunity to explore their mysterious and unknown sides. For example, though the handrail was designed with ergonomics in mind, when Levy reorients the object and removes this "human significance", amending the rail with rubber materials, the rail that was once a use-object comes alive in a playful way. The essence of the original forms used is still present, so observers can feel the familiarity of the known materials while their perception of the new object allows them to move into a space of imagination.
(Figure 1) Jordan Kasey, Passenger and Driver, 2015, oil on canvas, 42 x 54inch
(Figure 2 on the left) Ian Cheng, EMISSARIES
(Figure two right) Jordan Kasey, Roller Coaster, 2016, oil on canvas, 78 x 68inch
(Figure II) Ian Cheng, EMISSARIES
