Michael Dotson
Monday, June 28, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
Artist of the Week
I am interested in the concept of human thought--how we find, choose, and absorb information, particularly verbal information. The knot-making and audio of each piece combine to convey the complexity of this process. Making each work is meditative and systematic, but also intricate —in seeing the involution of each piece with its countless knots and interconnections and assuming its lengthy creation, a metaphor for the process of human thought imbeds itself in the minds of viewers.
My work taps into our obsession with communication and is intrinsically voyeuristic. Built during what has been called the Net generation, each piece presents a contemporarily common situation: we are allowed to eavesdrop into private thoughts and recorded conversations of friends and strangers alike. Faced in life with hundreds of methods of communication with thousands of people, it is a listener’s own willful decision to pick through every audible moment to overhear, to listen, or to fully comprehend the information rushing around them.
With the speakers strategically placed and the volume kept low but audible, viewers are forced to stoop and bend an ear to the surrogate storyteller within my pieces, as if receiving a whispered confession or secret information. The information can be serious or whimsical, exploring the idea that we determine the level of importance of the information we hear.
My work taps into our obsession with communication and is intrinsically voyeuristic. Built during what has been called the Net generation, each piece presents a contemporarily common situation: we are allowed to eavesdrop into private thoughts and recorded conversations of friends and strangers alike. Faced in life with hundreds of methods of communication with thousands of people, it is a listener’s own willful decision to pick through every audible moment to overhear, to listen, or to fully comprehend the information rushing around them.
With the speakers strategically placed and the volume kept low but audible, viewers are forced to stoop and bend an ear to the surrogate storyteller within my pieces, as if receiving a whispered confession or secret information. The information can be serious or whimsical, exploring the idea that we determine the level of importance of the information we hear.
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