Tony Oursler
22 Nov 2013 - 11 Jan 2014
TONY OURSLER
Glare Schematics
22 November 2013 - 11 January 2014
Albert Baronian is pleased to announce the second exhibition of Tony Oursler. Entitled Glare Schematics, the exhibition marks the beginning of a distinctively new series of sculptural works by Tony Oursler, existing on the wall as well as on the floor, next to ten new drawings.
Encompassing the notion of identity analysis made physical in poetic multimedia schematics, these works explore the idea of making visible private psychoanalytical and genealogical maps embodied in icons of one’s past and present. Oursler suggests an interlocking chain of influences as mnemonic images ranging from body parts, masks, stock mythological characters, serpents, demons, family portraits, abstract lights and celestial bodies are all connected via metallic vectors which define the associative links. Oursler asks, “who are we at any given moment, and how did we become what we are?”
The resulting works of Glare Schematics are at once comical and dark, forming an aggregation of influences, experiences, phobias, emotions, desires, brain chemistry, and genetics. To reflect his exploration of iconic memories, Oursler makes use of a wide array of materials and devices, including anthropological objects, pop cultural masks, educational sexual aids, to high resolution flat screens, digital archival prints, and painting, all linked with chromed silver and gold schematic forms. Masks and paintings become uncannily animated through the use of small flat screens. When looking at these works, the artist intends to evoke in the viewer a fusion of logograms, family trees, industrial flow charts and scientific diagrams.
Tony Oursler lives and works in New York and has had numerous survey exhibitions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Tate Gallery, London ; the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art ; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York ; Pinchuk Art Center, Kiev, Ukraine ; the Musée de Jeu de Paume, Paris ; the Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria. Currently his work is the subject of a vast monographic exhibition at the Musée des Arts Contemporain, Site du Grand-Hornu until 23 February 2014. In coproduction with the Mercator Fund, the museum edited an extensively illustrated major anthology of texts uttered by characters in Oursler’s videos since the end of the 1970s. The catalog is available in French and English.
Glare Schematics
22 November 2013 - 11 January 2014
Albert Baronian is pleased to announce the second exhibition of Tony Oursler. Entitled Glare Schematics, the exhibition marks the beginning of a distinctively new series of sculptural works by Tony Oursler, existing on the wall as well as on the floor, next to ten new drawings.
Encompassing the notion of identity analysis made physical in poetic multimedia schematics, these works explore the idea of making visible private psychoanalytical and genealogical maps embodied in icons of one’s past and present. Oursler suggests an interlocking chain of influences as mnemonic images ranging from body parts, masks, stock mythological characters, serpents, demons, family portraits, abstract lights and celestial bodies are all connected via metallic vectors which define the associative links. Oursler asks, “who are we at any given moment, and how did we become what we are?”
The resulting works of Glare Schematics are at once comical and dark, forming an aggregation of influences, experiences, phobias, emotions, desires, brain chemistry, and genetics. To reflect his exploration of iconic memories, Oursler makes use of a wide array of materials and devices, including anthropological objects, pop cultural masks, educational sexual aids, to high resolution flat screens, digital archival prints, and painting, all linked with chromed silver and gold schematic forms. Masks and paintings become uncannily animated through the use of small flat screens. When looking at these works, the artist intends to evoke in the viewer a fusion of logograms, family trees, industrial flow charts and scientific diagrams.
Tony Oursler lives and works in New York and has had numerous survey exhibitions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Tate Gallery, London ; the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art ; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York ; Pinchuk Art Center, Kiev, Ukraine ; the Musée de Jeu de Paume, Paris ; the Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria. Currently his work is the subject of a vast monographic exhibition at the Musée des Arts Contemporain, Site du Grand-Hornu until 23 February 2014. In coproduction with the Mercator Fund, the museum edited an extensively illustrated major anthology of texts uttered by characters in Oursler’s videos since the end of the 1970s. The catalog is available in French and English.