NYAB Event - James Bills "Golden Parachutes and Tin Handcuffs"

James Bills "Golden Parachutes and Tin Handcuffs"

Yes gallery

This event has ended.

Yes Gallery presents Golden Parachutes and Tin Handcuffs, an exhibition by James Bills curated by Lesley Doukhowetzky. "Golden Parachutes and Tin Handcuffs are catch-phrases from the financial industry to describe the bonuses executives receive when dismissed from their failing companies. Golden Parachutes, used pre-recession, are large payments with few strings attached. Tin Handcuffs, used post-recession, are smaller payments with restrictions. Either way, the contradiction of rewarding failure still stands as an example of the bad logic that is rampant in the financial industry. The works in this show take this illogical stance as a point of inspiration, using charts and renderings that defy straight forward analysis and focus on random data and it's complex and intricate nature. Inspired by mathematics, these drawings fuse a variety of visualization tools, graphs, and diagrams with elements of architectural drafting, isometric projection and scalar measurements. Each piece can be seen as a chart of data or a rendering of a building or sculpture. However, rather than objectively collecting data, mapping it and presenting it for analysis, the artist is more concerned with the aesthetics and allure of the visualization process itself. The data is generated by chance using polyhedral dice found often with role playing games. These dice come in a variety of shapes, with 4 to 20 sides, and create random numbers within certain parameters (between 4 to 20) as well as bringing an element of fantasy. The numbers rolled are recorded and then meticulously applied to measurements in the drawing. Decorative finishes of gilding and colored pencil are then applied, providing more prominence on glamour, intricacy and beauty rather than a practical use. These familiar tools of mathematics are subverted to present not an explanation but a sense of natural and compelling disorder.