BASE ARTS CONTEMPORANEA ODIERNA
BERGAMO, ITALY
BERGAMO, ITALY
PRESS RELEASE
BLACK BOX
May 13, 2016
BACO—Project Space, devoted to promoting the most interesting artists on the international scene, is pleased to present BLACK BOX, the first solo exhibition in Italy devoted to the American artist James Hoff (b. Fort Wayne, 1975; lives and works in Brooklyn, New York).
The exhibition presents “virus paintings” from the artist’s Skywiper series, paintings created by intentionally infecting digital images with a computer virus whose code acts as an agent that can alter the composition process, completely changing the appearance of the work, and corrupting and modifying its original forms. The visual result of the contagion, which is then transferred to a sheet of aluminum, comes across as an abstract painting with a powerful expressive impact that extends the definition of conceptual art to the new realms of interconnectivity and the threats accompanying it.
James Hoff’s approach to art is far removed from the physical and manual aspect. His technique is purely conceptual, created through a language composed of codes that have been distorted, manipulated and reconfigured with the aim of questioning the politics, current events, syndromes and pathologies of today’s society.
The name of the exhibition curated by Valentina Gervasoni, Stefano Raimondi and Mauro Zanchi, BLACK BOX, was chosen by the artist in reference to the Jerusalem computer virus, created in Italy and programmed to be unleashed 28 years ago on May 13. One of the main characteristics of the virus is that of “designing” a black box on the screen of the infected computer, and this “black box” symbolically leads to Hoff’s creative process. The black box can be defined as an input/output system very similar to the one the artist uses to produce his works. There is an initial “access” phase, meaning the virus inserted in the digital image, an intermediate infection and mutation phase, contained in the black box and concealed from the observer, and an “output” phase, translatable as the final painting presented at the exhibition.
Promoted by MIA—Congregazione della Misericordia Maggiore with the official support of the Fondazione Credito Bergamasco, the exhibition is organized by BACO—Base Arte Contemporanea and staged in collaboration with GAMeC—Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, in association with The Blank Contemporary Art.
The exhibition presents “virus paintings” from the artist’s Skywiper series, paintings created by intentionally infecting digital images with a computer virus whose code acts as an agent that can alter the composition process, completely changing the appearance of the work, and corrupting and modifying its original forms. The visual result of the contagion, which is then transferred to a sheet of aluminum, comes across as an abstract painting with a powerful expressive impact that extends the definition of conceptual art to the new realms of interconnectivity and the threats accompanying it.
James Hoff’s approach to art is far removed from the physical and manual aspect. His technique is purely conceptual, created through a language composed of codes that have been distorted, manipulated and reconfigured with the aim of questioning the politics, current events, syndromes and pathologies of today’s society.
The name of the exhibition curated by Valentina Gervasoni, Stefano Raimondi and Mauro Zanchi, BLACK BOX, was chosen by the artist in reference to the Jerusalem computer virus, created in Italy and programmed to be unleashed 28 years ago on May 13. One of the main characteristics of the virus is that of “designing” a black box on the screen of the infected computer, and this “black box” symbolically leads to Hoff’s creative process. The black box can be defined as an input/output system very similar to the one the artist uses to produce his works. There is an initial “access” phase, meaning the virus inserted in the digital image, an intermediate infection and mutation phase, contained in the black box and concealed from the observer, and an “output” phase, translatable as the final painting presented at the exhibition.
Promoted by MIA—Congregazione della Misericordia Maggiore with the official support of the Fondazione Credito Bergamasco, the exhibition is organized by BACO—Base Arte Contemporanea and staged in collaboration with GAMeC—Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, in association with The Blank Contemporary Art.
BASE ARTS CONTEMPORANEA ODIERNA
BERGAMO, ITALY
BERGAMO, ITALY
PRESS RELEASE
BLACK BOX
May 13, 2016
BACO—Project Space, devoted to promoting the most interesting artists on the international scene, is pleased to present BLACK BOX, the first solo exhibition in Italy devoted to the American artist James Hoff (b. Fort Wayne, 1975; lives and works in Brooklyn, New York).
The exhibition presents “virus paintings” from the artist’s Skywiper series, paintings created by intentionally infecting digital images with a computer virus whose code acts as an agent that can alter the composition process, completely changing the appearance of the work, and corrupting and modifying its original forms. The visual result of the contagion, which is then transferred to a sheet of aluminum, comes across as an abstract painting with a powerful expressive impact that extends the definition of conceptual art to the new realms of interconnectivity and the threats accompanying it.
James Hoff’s approach to art is far removed from the physical and manual aspect. His technique is purely conceptual, created through a language composed of codes that have been distorted, manipulated and reconfigured with the aim of questioning the politics, current events, syndromes and pathologies of today’s society.
The name of the exhibition curated by Valentina Gervasoni, Stefano Raimondi and Mauro Zanchi, BLACK BOX, was chosen by the artist in reference to the Jerusalem computer virus, created in Italy and programmed to be unleashed 28 years ago on May 13. One of the main characteristics of the virus is that of “designing” a black box on the screen of the infected computer, and this “black box” symbolically leads to Hoff’s creative process. The black box can be defined as an input/output system very similar to the one the artist uses to produce his works. There is an initial “access” phase, meaning the virus inserted in the digital image, an intermediate infection and mutation phase, contained in the black box and concealed from the observer, and an “output” phase, translatable as the final painting presented at the exhibition.
Promoted by MIA—Congregazione della Misericordia Maggiore with the official support of the Fondazione Credito Bergamasco, the exhibition is organized by BACO—Base Arte Contemporanea and staged in collaboration with GAMeC—Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, in association with The Blank Contemporary Art.
The exhibition presents “virus paintings” from the artist’s Skywiper series, paintings created by intentionally infecting digital images with a computer virus whose code acts as an agent that can alter the composition process, completely changing the appearance of the work, and corrupting and modifying its original forms. The visual result of the contagion, which is then transferred to a sheet of aluminum, comes across as an abstract painting with a powerful expressive impact that extends the definition of conceptual art to the new realms of interconnectivity and the threats accompanying it.
James Hoff’s approach to art is far removed from the physical and manual aspect. His technique is purely conceptual, created through a language composed of codes that have been distorted, manipulated and reconfigured with the aim of questioning the politics, current events, syndromes and pathologies of today’s society.
The name of the exhibition curated by Valentina Gervasoni, Stefano Raimondi and Mauro Zanchi, BLACK BOX, was chosen by the artist in reference to the Jerusalem computer virus, created in Italy and programmed to be unleashed 28 years ago on May 13. One of the main characteristics of the virus is that of “designing” a black box on the screen of the infected computer, and this “black box” symbolically leads to Hoff’s creative process. The black box can be defined as an input/output system very similar to the one the artist uses to produce his works. There is an initial “access” phase, meaning the virus inserted in the digital image, an intermediate infection and mutation phase, contained in the black box and concealed from the observer, and an “output” phase, translatable as the final painting presented at the exhibition.
Promoted by MIA—Congregazione della Misericordia Maggiore with the official support of the Fondazione Credito Bergamasco, the exhibition is organized by BACO—Base Arte Contemporanea and staged in collaboration with GAMeC—Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, in association with The Blank Contemporary Art.