Duality

The Duality show reception had a great turn out. There was a live band and plenty of food and drinks that made the night delightful, fun and entertaining. It was a must see.

Live band

This particular solo show was held in an alternative venue in San Francisco. The show covered two floors of sizable commercial business area which was an opportune to have been utilized. Forty plus pieces, in different sizes and presentation, were shown in this facility. The body of works in this show conveyed few themes that led to the title "Duality".

One theme dealt with the idea of Industrialism creating Globalism, and Globalism creating Capitalis, and then Capitalism creating consumerism and consumerism ultimately creating materialism. So, one theme the art show conveyed was materialism being the ultimate production of Industrialism. Materialism concept was shown by the imagery within the collage patterned pieces. As I conveyed in my previous notes on the same subject matter (see Convolution 10).

A second theme played in the show was the idea of balance, which I used an Anthropological term in my previous notes. Binary opposition is the Anthropological idea of one thing needing another to balance each other, like yin-yang idea. This was represented by the achromatic colors of a gray scale that complemented another real well. The achromatic color of black and white were a great contrast implying the concept of binary opposition. Also, the idea of simplicity becoming more complex was visually expressed in the art show. Hence, this idea created that 'duality' link. In nature, reciprocation is needed, for what you take away from nature you must return in nurture. I conveyed this by utilizing recycled materials that I have collected over ten years. I am a person who recycle, so being 'green' is important to me. Being 'green' became endemic in the last few years, so I incorporated this Socio-anthropological concept as another theme for the show. I used natural and recycled materials to make the art in contrast to the materialistic visual imagery on the art. Therefore, this is another link to the 'duality' concept - recycling the materials we collect and turning them into art.

The last theme that I utilized in the show is the idea of time. I utilized collage pieces that were 10 to 40 years old and presented them in a contemporaneous concept. This created that 'duality' concept where the old amalgamated with the new.

These themes presented in the show were concepts that needed to be explained because one cannot fully interpret how things were without a retrospect from the artist. 'One cannot judge a book by its cover' as a saying say. So, hopefully these informational concepts and themes of the show helped explain the reason for the title 'Duality'.

(below were pictures from the show...)

Passage

(*This was a wall sculpture that I incorporated in the show. It was made to be a floor piece but space for 3D pieces was not allowed due to spacing and safety factor. So, as an alternative I hung it on the wall. This was a quasi impromptu design different from its original design. The sculpture also added dimension or a different feel for the show.)

Cut By A Whim

(*This was an alternative to presenting an art piece(s). Contemporaneously, art are now being hung in different ways, away from the conventional framing methods. It's simple and industrially contemporary.)

(*These pieces were presented in a different way. I have been experimenting different ways of framing art from the traditional. What I did was I hung the pieces on invisible line using a very transparent synthetic line, thinner than a fishing line. As a result it appears that the pieces were floating on top of the metal structures. In addition to the pieces were the unexpected effect of the shadow play behind the pieces. That addition made the art more dramatic and interesting.)

Convolution 53

(*This piece is a corner piece. I did this piece because it's unconventional in terms of presentation. Going away from conventional making and presenting has been something I have been working on to make things contemporary and original. So, I thought I would try it and see how it went. I believe it was successful.)