Kris Pierce, “Interlude”
The Sleep of Reason
The Fragmented Figure
October 7, 2023 - December 2, 2023
Opening Reception:
Saturday, October 7, 6pm - 9pm
Closing Reception:
Saturday, December 2, 12pm - 6pm
Site Gallery Houston
The Silos at Sawyer Yards
1502 Sawyer Street, Suite 400
Houston, TX 77007
Open Hours:
Wednesday through Saturday, 12pm - 6pm
Schedule of Special Performances at Site Gallery Houston:
Saturday, October 14
2pm-3pm: Exhibition Tour by Curator Volker Eisele
3:15pm: Musical performance by the Misha Penton Collective
Saturday, October 21
2pm-3pm: Exhibition Tour by Curator Volker Eisele
3:15pm: Musical performance by the Misha Penton Collective
Saturday, October 28
2pm-3pm: Exhibition Tour by Curator Volker Eisele
Saturday, November 4
2pm-3pm: Exhibition Tour by Curator Volker Eisele
3:15pm: Musical performance by the Misha Penton Collective
Friday, Nov. 10 & Saturday, Nov. 11
12pm-6pm: Performance by Mark McCoin and Nathan Wheeler with “Roz” (Robotic Resonance)
An interactive and durational sonic art being
Saturday, November 18
1pm: “SHIFT” Performance by Sarah Sudhoff
2pm-3pm: Exhibition Tour by Curator Volker Eisele
3:15pm Musical performance by the Misha Penton Collective
Saturday, December 2
Closing Reception: 12pm - 6pm
2pm-3pm: Exhibition Tour by Curator Volker Eisele
Artist talk by Colette Copeland and demonstrations of her sonic work
Every period has its own special image of man and the figure. The Venus of Milo and the David of Michelangelo were aesthetic ideals of the classic Greek or Renaissance period respectively. Then at the outset of Modernism, the advent of Cubism radically changed the image of the figure. “Picasso re-invented anatomy” wrote Peter Selz, an influential, mid-century curator at the MOMA.
The question can be fairly asked, is the fragmentation and de-construction of the human figure, and its subsequent re-construction the predominant symbol of twenty-first century man? And if so, why was it adopted as a near ubiquitous icon of the modern human condition?
This exhibition aims to explore the directions and trajectory of figurative art as practiced by artists in our city and state. How do these works compare and connect to the figurative concepts that percolate throughout the contemporary art world?
In 1959, a seminal exhibition titled “New Image of Man” opened at the MOMA in New York City. It was curated by the above-mentioned Peter Selz, who attributed the distortion of the figure to his generation’s anguish and lingering shock of World War II and its Cold War aftermath. He alluded to the complexities of twentieth century life as a trigger of a feeling of solitude and insecurity. He referred to it as the “disquiet man”.
If this assessment of last century’s “angst” sounds vaguely familiar, life in our century may be even more complex and anxiety producing, if you consider the effects of climate change or the recent threat of a nuclear calamity.
The title of the show “The Sleep of Reason” refers to the famous etching by Francisco Goya, which is part of the “Los Caprichos” series, published in 1835. Goya has been called an early Modernist, because he depicted the anguish and despair of his people, and he castigated the corrupt society he lived in. In his visionary etchings and aquatints, especially the “Disasters of the War” and “Los Caprichos”, the human figure is subject to violent deformation and humiliating mocking. He admonishes to follow the path of rationality versus superstition and terror.
FEATURED ARTISTS:
Frances Bagley, Rabea Ballin, Jimmy Canales, Elizabeth Chapin, Colette Copeland, Jeff Gibbons, Suguru Hiraide, Allison Hunter, Jessica Kreutter, Yuliya Lanina, Nadin Nassar, Steve Parker, Kris Pierce, Hugo Santana, Sarah Sudhoff, James Sullivan, Jesse Lott.
ROZ: An Interactive Sonic Being
Two guest artists, Mark McCoin and Nathan Wheeler will introduce Roz (Robotic Resonance) with several performances on Friday, November 10 and Saturday, November 11 from 12pm to 6pm at SITE Gallery Houston.
"Roz" debuted this past June at the CURRENTS 2023 Festival in Santa Fe to great acclaim. It is a new kind of audio-visual hybrid instrument that can produce unexpected, novel soundscapes.
The inclusion of an interactive robotic system in the “Fragmented Figure” project points to the vast promises of an exponential rise of human creativity via a mind/machine interface. There is rapidly accelerating research being conducted in linking the human brain and its neural activities with Artificial Intelligence. As recent roll-out events have demonstrated, AI can be unpredictable and even threatening despite tightly controlled parameters.
“Roz” may be part of the initial phase of an evolutionary development, whose endgame is unpredictable and unknowable. Aiming toward a degree of autonomy and latitude in searching for unexpected, creative solutions is one of the main attractions of systems like “Roz”. This demonstration may just be the beginning of the progressive growth and learning process of “Roz” from a more figurative art entity to an eventual self-actualization with the ability to make its own choices.
“Roz” or Robotic Resonance is an interactive and durational sonic art piece that features a piano harp (metal harp and strings of a piano), 2 robotic arms holding spinning felt, and an interactive computer control.
Strings are tuned to the resonant frequencies of the exhibition venue and when activated, create a remarkable soundscape of contrapuntal harmonic relationships.
Visually evoking part sci-fi operating table and part antique instrument, this juxtaposition combines two ages of technology, highlighting the passage of time while still integrating a hybrid audiovisual instrument with possibilities greater than the sum of its individual components.
Sarah Sudhoff: SHIFT
"SHIFT," is a new durational participatory sound performance and serves as an extension of the artist's "Line of Gravity" series, in which she employs self-reflection through photography, performance and video the subject of domestic violence. Based on a series of personal experiences from the Summer of 2021, the artist seeks to poetically portray through repetition, gesture and actions, both the internal and external struggles one faces on the way to reclaiming a self-lost to abuse.
"SHIFT," intends to invite the audience to share in the burden of these experiences by lending their voices to the artist's story. Shifting the narrative from a first person account to a collective conversation, creating opportunities for empathy, understanding and ultimately, a reclamation of one's own power.
Allison Hunter
“Shifting Time”
Allison Hunter
"Shifting Time"
Colette Copeland
"Soundings: Texas"
Elizabeth Chapin
"Ultralight Beam"
Elizabeth Chapin
"Ecstasy"
Frances Bagley
"Why Stand Aghast?"
Hugo Santana
"Subject to Functional Replication"
James Sullivan
"Archaic Figure II"
James Sullivan
"Beaker"
Jeff Gibbons
"Ladder Nipples (Nipocchio)"
Jesse Lott
Posthumous Installation
Jesse Lott Memorial
Jessica Kreutter
"Everywhere I am, a part of everything is a part of me"
Jessica Kreutter
"Everywhere I am, a part of everything is a part of me"
Jimmy Canales
"Zuzan"
Jimmy Canales
"Zuzan"
Kris Pierce
"The Reality Show"
Nadin Nassar
"Welfare Check (The Three Little Piggies Blew the House Down)"
Nadin Nassar
"Welfare Check (The Three Little Piggies Blew the House Down)"
Rabea Ballin
"History Slept on #sixwordstories"
Sarah Sudhoff
"Line of Gravity, Gravity, and Tender"
Sarah Sudhoff
"Line of Gravity"
Steve Parker
"The Golem"
Suguru Hiraide
"Fly High"
Yuliya Lanina
"Mother/Land"
Yuliya Lanina
"Celebration"
DJ Mikey Drag playing great music during the opening night!
Mark McCoin and Nathan Wheeler
Roz: Interactive Sonic Being
Musical performance by the Misha Penton Collective