PIX from PARIS

Vey-Yo's Hello Halo Echo 

BRACHFELD GALLERY, PARIS

JULY 11-SEPT 15

The last time I mounted an art show in Paris was 4 years ago, right before I left for India, so it’s nice to return from India and show in Paris the work I made since I was last here. Brachfeld gallery has also allowed me the use of the space for the month of August to use as a residency, hosting different teachings/lectures/workshops/presentations/events.

I knew I had a lot of pieces to choose to show, all small paintings/drawings/collages on paper (cause that’s the easiest to work on when living out of a backpack and traveling). I wanted to do something site-specific that could make all the individual works operate individually or as a group. I decided to put murals on 3 of the walls that the pieces could relate to thematically/conceptually. Also I wanted there to be a blend of the East and the West, not just a display of work made abroad.

 

For this mural I revisited a mural I did a year ago, when I showed some work in Sweden after my first year and a half in India. I called him my Quantum man, jumping from one location to another, shedding identifying features. It seemed appropriate now to use him again as the Large Hadron Collider in nearby Zurich just confirmed the “God-particle” existence. I wanted all my art to be flying out of his briefcase, like a commuter late for the train. But on a deeper level I am thinking about strings of memories unfolding into the past, each linked and expanding meaning by association, all traceable back to the briefcase, open in the present moment (caught between the door of the past and the door of the future).  The quantum man now has an outfit (with matching hat and briefcase) of sacred geometry (flower of life pattern, also seen in many of the works on paper), which speaks to this French Haute-couture culture of luxury branding. The pieces transition from chaotic strings into salon style hanging, which also references the history of Paris.

For this mural I am integrating East and West concepts of beheading. I am using many images of Kali, a fierce and often misunderstood goddess from the Hindu pantheon as well as that of the guillotine  (the show opened close to Bastille Day -July 14th, the celebration of the French 1789 Revolution), and the iPhone (as the guillotine blade) that makes people “loose their head.” The angel is there to catch the head, and serves as an image to relate works on paper to.  Like a diagram, the strings in this and the next installation come out of specific places and connect to relational visuals. Over all, I liked the image to look like a computer desktop as well as a diagram. Each work on paper was like a folder that could be conceptually double clicked on, accessing more information about the subject. Many relations of images need time in the mind to create meaning for why they were placed together.

The final mural references the fake book cover series I did in India, 6 of which are also on display in the gallery. GalapaGhost in the Machine allows me to talk about technology vs. Evolution/nature, and bring in imagery I made in India, which connect directly or indirectly, to these themes. The main graphic I use on the book cover is a medieval alchemy woodcut of man looking beyond nature to get a glimpse into the mechanisms of heaven. This also allows me to integrate East and West mystical imagery from the past and the present.  Again, the works on paper serve individually as file folders, or create as a whole a feeling of a chart or diagram.

Wall of fake book covers

Limited edition prints available from BRACHFELD Gallery

Window installation