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Friday, June 10: Emergence: New Works by KC Tidemand

on Mon, 06/06/2016 - 14:21



Emergence: New Works by KC Tidemand

Curated by Jung Hee Mun

Emergence: New Works by KC Tidemand is an exhibition referencing the modern limbo we face in the technological tundra. It is composed solely of two-dimensional works center around the traditional subject of the landscape. Flourishing future cities and machinery are depicted within desolate environments. With the artist's background in installation, these flat landscapes verge on the three-dimensional by virtue of how they are installed in the space.  The show consists of two photographic pieces, two oil paintings, a large drawing on paper, a hand-etched Plexi piece, and a drawn textile with metal detailing. Although they vary in material and process, they all share a visual language and a barren, yet abundant nature.

Meticulously made and prepared, these pieces serve as much as a timeline as a depiction of space. The tradition of mapping is a central theme throughout the exhibition, with the change from hand drawn maps to computerized GPS systems being opposing influences in the artworks. Each piece has its own schema with data given, as well as withheld, creating a dual characteristic of absences and abundance of information speckled through the gallery space. The viewer is left to fill out the blanks and imagine what should be presented. Playing with our imaginations and sentiments towards a dystopian future Tidemand’s work mirror the twenty-first-century status: a space between automation and manual labor, reconciling the gap through her laborious and often monotonous processes. Her art disrupts the flow found in the industrial and mechanical by her distinct and persistent use of the human hand. This, in turn, produces a dichotomy in the work, between the soft and hard, blurred and sharp. Tidemand shows how repetitive yet unique mark making creates a universe onto itself, a series of information all beautifully rendered in an ordered mess. Emergence refers both to our deepest fear and highest hopes for the growing interchangeability between the individual and the technological landscape surrounding them.

KC Tidemand is an artist and educator, originally from Norway. She received her Bachelor's degree in Studio Art and Philosophy from Skidmore College and her Masters in Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in NYC in 2015. Tidemand’s artwork deals with the notion of production and expansion, drawing influence from the polarity between reductive and emergent systems; where the former is characterized by its hierarchical networks while the latter is a decentralized web of connectivity. Using these two different systems as a tableau for the work, she plays with the limits of their visual properties and through this, explores how they affect our behavior, through liberation or restriction. Tidemand is a founding member of Art Theory Project; an art collective focused on bringing a contemporary art dialogue to the local communities and schools in NYC. She has shown internationally, including several galleries in Norway and the United States. She is currently living and working in New York City.

Jung Hee Mun is an artist, educator and independent curator based in New York City. Mun earned her Master’s degree in Fine Arts with a focus in an interdisciplinary practice from School of Visual Arts in NYC and Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts in printmaking from the University of Texas at San Antonio. Mun’s recent work includes interactive projection, participatory performance, video, and photography. Mun explores issues of identity, violence, information infrastructure and sociopolitical ideologies in forms of fictions and dreams triggered by her identity as a Korean-American. Mun served as a cultural ambassador for Department for Culture & Creative Development of the city of San Antonio, Texas. She is a founding member of Art Theory Project, an art collective focused on connecting local communities with local artists by organizing art classes, exhibitions, and lectures. Mun’s works are in a collection of the University of Texas at San Antonio. She is currently living and working in NYC.

KCTidemand.com
JungHeeMun.com

 

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