Art for When No One Is Looking
In May of 2007 I launched Art for Humans Gallery Chinatown. I was in the second year of The Claremont Graduate University MFA program. The evening these photos were shot was our first creative interaction with the the space. Lauren, Shane and I. Chung King Road was empty and very quiet. We unpacked my Pixel Paintings, set up lights, a Mac II monitor, video and still digital cameras and projectors. Over the next couple of hours, we performed a series of experimental procedures and fluid presentations. These would be documented IRT and later posted on AFH Flickr and YouTube, and other platforms in the AFH constellation of sites. The process was focused, intense, systematic. The “rules” were conceived and discarded, neither too rigorous or playful. Accumulated logistic experience in the traditional 4D modes informed our improvisations. What superficially could be construed as arbitrary, happening outside the Hegelian Concept-2-Object model, was actually novel, especially as pertaining to virtuality. Now, I describe the approach as Post-Contemporary, and it’s more or less mainstream practice. In the late Oughts what we were doing felt insurgent, at least I thought so. Looking over the photoset last night, recalling the moment and the scenario, I’m amazed at the energy and audacity on display. So much of art is what appears when no one is watching.
