VC Projects and International Artist, Shane Guffogg
in Collaboration with Vramyan Interiors and KARNEJ
paintings, mixed media, antiquity, and sound
“THE PAST AS FUTURE IS PRESENT – CONVERSATIONS THROUGH TIME”
Featuring: KARNEJ – “vaguebonz”
site-specific sound installation
Dear Friends,
Join us on Saturday, October 8th, from 2 – 6 pm, for our closing event featuring KARNEJ -vaguebondz,” sound installation within the “The Past as Future is Present – Conversations Through Time” exhibition.
KARNEJ – “vaguebondz”
Mimicking the curatorial methods used in the exhibition, KARNEJ collects sounds from tangentially related sources (bat echolocation ultrasonic recordings, TS Eliot’s reading of the Four Quartets on vinyl, vocal recordings in dripping caves) and processes them in order to conjure a dank monastic aura within the space. The 5hr sound art piece aspires to establish a sort of druid-like meditative state by using indeterminacy as a sequencing and programming tool. This allows the possibility of constant sonic variation with a limited set of the source materials. The result is a haunted and dark-hued interpretation of the tribulations of faith and doubt by way of TS Eliot’s final opus.
Just a little reminder, Western Avenue Collective will be featuring “Fall Open Studios” during the same day and time. There will be multiple artist studios to explore within the courtyard setting.
See you soon,
Victoria Chapman
“The Past as Future is Present – Conversations Through Time” in collaboration with Shane Guffogg, Alex Vramyan, Lucasz Jiannowski of Vramyan Interiors and VC Projects, will curate two rooms located at El Nido Art Space, Los Angeles. The group worked together to create a collection of contemporary art themes amongst historical works of antiquity. This setting is a provocative art installation questioning the ephemeral nature of time while creating an enigma infused by the objects, furniture, paintings old and new, for the observer to complete.
In one of the rooms, Vramyan Interiors resurrects a modern interpretation of a traditional altar, but instead of the traditional devotee being displayed at the center, Alex Vramyan placed Guffogg’s large-scale Sapere Aude #7 painting that is coded with Augmented Reality, creating a 4th dimension that can be viewed through a smartphone or pad. The idea was to remove the obvious, creating a new god-head. By simply viewing the painting on ADLAR’s app it moves to the tempo of the artist’s exhalation in tandem with Erik Satie’s “Gymnoédie 3” (1888), recorded by pianist Anthony Cardella. The painting’s title references the Latin phrase ‘dare to know’, first published in The Book of Letters (20 BC) by the Roman poet Horace, and later a phrase associated with The Age of Enlightenment, and Immanuel Kant’s essay, “Answering the Question: What is Enlightenment? (1784), followed by Michel Foucault’s essay “What is Enlightenment (1984). Guffogg created his painting in 2017-18, AR was added in 2021. Guffogg weighs into the conversation adding; “Amid the age of disinformation and the weaponization of social media, I started thinking about the word Truth. Is it a concept? Is it tangible? Is it objective or subjective? All relevant questions that are worth asking, because if they are not asked then we are destined to repeat the worst parts of our history – stuck in a loop of recurring wars, famines, plagues, overpopulation, etc.”
The second room presents a different enigma, which is a bit of an apocalypse in the making. The observer steps into the disarray of the past, with piles of books on the floor, and a partial salon wall of 17th-century paintings. In the middle of the room is a grouping of Grand Tour Bronzes, one after Michelangelo, and another, “Mercury” by Giambologna sitting on an early 20th century Italian Neoclassical Inlaid Marquetry table, which all represent the past. Amongst this disarray is Guffogg’s repertoire of post-post-modernist paintings and a Carrara marble sculpture. The past informs the future and the observer in the room completes the experience in the present tense, punctuated with a 19th-century French Regency Style Mirror with Heavy Spotting. Vramyan Interiors brings a fresh and insightful view combining antiquity amongst Guffogg’s paintings and sculptures influenced by ancient civilizations, human existence, and contemporary literature.
CLOSING EVENT FEATURE ON Saturday, October 8th from 2 – 6 pm
KARNEJ joins the closing event for a sound installation, interpreting the space … the past as future is present – conversations through time
KARNEJ – “vaguebondz” – site specific sound installation
Mimicking the curatorial methods used in the exhibition, KARNEJ collects sounds from tangentially related sources (bat echolocation ultrasonic recordings, TS Eliot’s reading of the Four Quartets on vinyl, vocal recordings in dripping caves) and processes them in order to conjure a dank monastic aura within the space. The 5hr sound art piece aspires to establish a sort of druid-like meditative state by using indeterminacy as a sequencing and programming tool. This allows the possibility of constant sonic variation with a limited set of the source materials. The result is a haunted and dark-hued interpretation of the tribulations of faith and doubt by way of TS Eliot’s final opus.
AND …
Many tiger moths produce ultrasonic clicks in response to the echolocation calls bats use while attacking [The movement of time, in which brief moments of eternity are caught] prey.the tiger moth Bertholdia trigona produces [Worldly experience, leading to dissatisfaction]
clicks at a very high rate (up to 4,500 per second)
to jam bat echolocation. Jamming is the most effective defense against [Purgation in the world, divesting the soul of the love of created things]
bats ever documented, with jamming causing a ten-fold decrease in bat capture success in the field.
Humans may jam echolocating animals deliberately or accidentally. Recent efforts have been made to develop [A lyric prayer for, or affirmation of the need of, intercession]
acoustic jamming deterrents to exclude bats from buildings or bridges, or to keep bats away from [The problem of attaining artistic wholeness, which becomes an analogue for and merges into the problem of achieving spiritual health]
wind turbines where large numbers of mortalities occur.
“he does not really feel his faith, but merely assents to it for complex reasons” [orwell on eliot]
SHANE GUFFOGG 