Andrew Erdos "Guaranteed Impermanence"
Claire Oliver
This event has ended.
By incorporating the viewer's own reflection within his works of art, Erdos cleverly creates an environment that demands participation from anyone who observes it. The artist manipulates the context to bring the viewer into a state of contemplation and deliberation on life, mortality and man’s place in the natural world. In one of his signature videos, Erdos has superimposed ruins of ancient man's Anasazi caves at sunset, with the pinnacle of contemporary society's frenetic New York City, situating both the viewer and Erdos' own running heard of animal creations in a kaleidoscopic fantasy land.
The visual overload barley contained in the exhibition's title work, Guaranteed Impermanence , explores this concept of time and it's continuous march forward, no matter our attempts to alter, impede or propel. An all encompassing work with mirrored ceiling and walls, the viewer becomes a willing participant in Erdos' kaleidoscopic world. We are invited inside the eight foot by eight foot by ten foot room, we walk across a glass bridge and peer down into the bone-yard of prehistoric (or futuristic) animals.
Josiah McElheny's seminal work, "Endlessly Repeating 20th Century Modernism", first used the medium of silverized glass within an infinity box, yet McElheny's commentary on mechanical reproduction and minimalist restraint is diametrically opposed to Erdos' futuristic pop candy colored video game illusionism. Jeff Koons' kitsch figuration "Balloon Dog" may come to mind at first glance, yet Erdos sleek mouth blown glass does not read as manufactured perfection; it is at once futuristic and nostalgic, slick and sensual and charming and playful. Erdos moves the work far beyond an iconic toy.
While conceptually exploring the disconcerting collision of time, nature and technology, Erdos seduces the viewer into becoming an active player in his interactive, hypnotic, and all-encompassing experience. The Artist's signature animal forms remind us that humanity, despite its technological imaginings, represents the briefest of blips in the scope of Earth's history. The Artist gently reminds us of the reality that this planet will outlast humankind.
Erdos, who says that he’s fascinated by complicated relationships, continues to explore conflicting esthetics such as culture vs. technology and nature vs. science. The artist remains a neutral observer of humankind’s place in the stages of world history, noting that as video is the controlled transmission of light, and glass is the best material for transmitting light, the two are a perfect complement. By pushing the optical properties of glass, and how glass mediates human perception of space and time, Erdos uses light transmission and its effect on plastic space to confuse and delight the viewer and move him to another dimension.
Andrew Erdos is 28 years old; the artist holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Alfred University, NY. His works are in the permanent collections of the Toledo Museum of Art, Oh, The Chazen Museum, WI and Celebrity Cruises (Norway), along with many important private collections. He has had work exhibited at the Oklahoma City Museum, OK, The Orlando Museum of Art, FL, The Toledo Museum, OH and The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. Erdos has held residencies at The Corning Museum of Glass, NY, Jacksonville University, FL and Dagaocun, Beijing, China. Andrew Erdos was featured on CBS's new magazine programme: Sunday Morning; he has been featured in The New Glass Review, Glass Magazine and The Huffington Post. Guaranteed Impermanence is his first solo exhibition with the Gallery.
[Image: Andrew Erdos "Guaranteed Impermanence (detail)" Blown Glass, Silverized, Two Way Mirror, Welded Steel, Video, 96 x 96 x 96 in.]
Media
Schedule
from April 20, 2013 to May 18, 2013
Opening Reception on 2013-04-25 from 18:00 to 20:00