The Un-exhibit

I wonder what would happen if I created an installation that was only described in a press conference and never seen. I wonder if i could obscure a video of the installation with a time stamped blank screen, and submit that at a press conference as proof of the installation. What would that say about video as art? Would the described work be diminished if it were never seen, only described? Can the same be said of a video of a body of video or film work?

The Trial of Charles Taylor from the installation MICROAUDIOTELLAREVOLUTION:FROM THE PRC TO THE TRC

This current body of work, Microaudiotellarevolution: From the PRC to the TRC, is neither a documentary nor a narrative of events, but rather a template placed over war and conflict everywhere.

The structure of Microaudiotellarevolution is based on the use of technology in representation, and in this context, the use of media technology in war and conflict. In his Philosophy of Photography, Vilem Flusser talks about degrees of abstraction from a photograph to the object, suggesting the absence of a true evaluation of the role the machine plays in translation from object to image. The way I use technology here is counterintuitive to function, and I believe that the circumventing of technological function in this way emphasizes the fallacy of techno-representation. It is also a commentary I think, on how we view conflict and war. We experience it on television and other media, not in direct proximity.

In conclusion, this work, I think is not only about the tragedy of war and conflict, but a certain futility in translating such experiences into a visual equivalence. This built in fallacy is perhaps a revelation of how we can separate events from objects and create new experiences informed by both.

Thrift Art Auction 2008

What is the Value of Art? Who Decides? The Thrift Art Auction is a low
brow aim at the highbrow concept of art value. The auction bidding
starts at .50 cents ( a very socialist, we're all equal ideal from the
commie bastards). The works (in the Marxist sense of the word ) are
from local Thrift Stores and I make a sweet Capitalistic profit that I
then use to buy more Thrift art and continue the futile cycle that may
never resolve the questions!

From PRC to TRC

The title of this body of work comes from acronyms that describe organizations that have affected the people of Liberia.
The PRC or People's Redemption Council was formed in April 1980 and the TRC or Truth and Reconciliation Commission was formed in 2008. In the interim 28 years the country of Liberia was profoundly transformed by coup, civil war and ethnic cleansing. The TRC is currently gathering stories from people directly affected. My current body of work in a very personal way
explores the idea of displacement as a result of war and violence. It also, I think , has something to do with memories and trauma of war.

About Time

Recent photographs from the time machine experiments.

When art doesn't make sense

When does art make sense? Is it when concepts are illuminated, and all meanings explored, resolved and defended? Or is it when a gesture, bold and unrefined is birthed? What is it that the art student and the professor of art struggle with? Is there a gesture that can be taught, a right way to make art?

Yes there is. One must learn and perfect a method in order to have at one's disposal the myriad possibilities of a medium. However, there should be a distinction between learning the methods and tools of a medium and perfecting said medium. Perfection can be measured in decades and in a lifetime, and learning a method can be measured in shorter periods of time.

So here's the question:Do you have to perfect a medium in order to express your concepts with it? And if so, does this render what you do in the interim, meaningless "practice"?

WAR: A Coloring book by Christopher Blay

War comes in beautiful and vivid color. Let's explore together!