Thursday, August 28, 2008

More Fred Tomaselli

Been thinking about something Fred Tomaselli said in an interview. Author Siri Hustvedt talks about there being two aspects of perception - expectation and attention, and how we usually see what we expect to see.

Tomaselli replies : "Back when I was a high school philistine, skateboarding around California's Venice Beach, some friends and I happened to go into a gallery that was showing the work of James Turrell. The entire exhibition appeared to consist of a single, large black rectangle painted on the wall of a dimly-lit space. We all thought it was the stupidest thing we'd ever seen and began lauging at it. I reached out to touch it, and to my surprise, my hand passed through the wall and into a limitless void. Solidity literally vanished into thin air. My laughter disappeared into awestruck silence. Turrell taught me to pay attention. he taught me that what you see isn't always what you get. ... I think great art involves a little magic on the road to altering perception.... I personally like to create a fictive premise for the work that breaks down on closer reading."

(
Another Magazine, "Magic Realism" by Siri Hustvedt, Autumn/Winter 2007)
http://www.jamescohan.com/artists/fred-tomaselli/articles-and-reviews
(
image below is the cover of a publication, also seen at James Cohan website)

No comments: