feather2pixels

Character Profile, the July 2013 text and language based group show I curated at Root Division in San Francisco, is over.

Just a rapidly fading collection of electrochemical brain markers and digital residue on the internet, the exhibition now exists only to the extent that we accept the highly contested notion of the past as a tangible component of reality. Character Profile does not think, therefore it may not be and may never have been.

To combat existential dread, I recorded this ten minute walkthrough of the show in 1080p.  We did it off the cuff in one long continuous take, so sorry if I misrepresented anything you might find important.   Thanks to EB , Trevor, and Lonwell for help with this.  And thanks to everyone who participated in the viewing and creation of this show.

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Here is a sneak peak of noted gluten artist Ben Hill‘s Toasted Puns, installed at Root Division for our language-art show, Character Profile. This has to be seen in person to believed!

Character Profile at Root Division is installed, open, and ready for the masses.

It really couldn’t have turned out better.  I am extremely proud of it.

The opening is this Saturday July 13, 7-10PM:
Root Division
3175 17th Street (between Shotwell and South Van Ness)
With a performance by vocalist-violinist Dina Maccabee around 8:30

And to help that along, we’ve got some press.  A delicious glossy spread in the July-August 7×7 magazine:

And a blurb in the July 11 SF Examiner:

Here are some more photos from some Character Profile projects.

Ben’s Hill‘s Toasted Puns how have a title bun.  This was my first experience screenprinting baked goods and I must say I hope I have a reason to do it again soon.

America, you requested it and I am giving to you:  American Fistfight, is a multi-projector screenprinted slideshow controlled by a boxing robot.  It looks like a huge mess, but it’s coming along.

Ben Hill‘s toasted puns are coming in from our eight lettering artists. I toasted, shrink-wrapped, and tagged the first set yesterday and they are looking delicious.

Displayed artists: Amy Bryan and Astrid Kaemmerling

Character Profile opens July 10 2013 at Root Division. (Opening Reception: Saturday July 13 7-10PM)

Check out this studio photograph from my upcoming instructional pamphlet: How not to embed one buffalo wing in clear epoxy resin by Jonathan Fischer.

Know anyone who wants to help me and Ben create a wall of Toasted Puns?  Please pass on this link ASAP.

With a fierce commitment to words and play, the curation of my upcoming group show Character Profile is going to focus on separating Root Division in to discrete wings by topic, complete with screenprinted signage.  Want to know what sort of art’s in each of these wings?  Then join us for the July 13th 2013 opening. Do it!

And here’s the screenprinted signage:

“Character Profile: New Works in Language, Text, and Wordplay”
Curated by Jon Fischer
Opening Reception Saturday July 13 7-10PM (one block from tacos!)
Exhibition Dates: July 10-27
Root Division
3175 17th Street at South Van Ness, San Francisco
free

About eighteen months ago in Golden Gate Park, I had a sudden flash of inspiration in the form of a succession of twenty-eight free associative phrases that I quite immediately knew I wanted to develop into a substantial art piece.

I was associated with Root Division through some teaching work, and decided to go even further and pitch them an entire language based show through their curatorial submission program. Over the course of four of five months of back and forth I refined the concept, got three or four trusted collaborators involved, and the proposal was accepted as the July 2013 show at Root Division! This group show is going to feature the language-based visual artwork of 27 artists including my beloved Ben Hill, Nowell Valeri, and Erin Bregman. I think it’s going to be a really fun, multifaceted show featuring but not limited to:

• A wall of Toasted Puns.
• An interactive sound installation in which visitors can manipulate Presidential speeches with obscene gangta rap with old TV commercials, to create their own postmodern soundtrack the way God intended.
• Flip Books.
• A New York Times vs USA Today death match.
• eBooks (a humongous “e” made out of books).
• And lots of other engaging, interactive work dedicated to a spirit of play.

Bring your kids!

My project, “American Fistfight” evokes the early era of cinema with rudimentary moving image sequences produced entirely with screen printed 35mm slides. Several vintage projectors connected with a fabricated control panel will allow visitors to maneuver image sequences for themselves while the results are displayed on the gallery wall.

From the curatorial desk:
Character Profile is a visual arts exhibition featuring projects that explore intersections between the forms, mechanisms and meanings of language. Drawing from a cross disciplinary group of twenty-six collaborators from across the country including writers, visual artists, and craftspeople, Character Profile investigates novel functions of language through a broad range of materials, media and approaches. Many of these works are dedicated to a spirit of engagement and play. The exhibition highlights art designed for direct interaction with visitors and work that provokes expanded meanings and alternative associations. These artists present language as both a medium and a subject, and deftly maneuver words to both convey and critique meaning.

Last year I decided that I wanted to focus on art that features wordplay.

To facilitate this, I arranged to curate a show on art that features wordplay at the always-canny Root Division.   The key word here is “play.”  The word “word” is also key.   I suppose the word “features” provides some key context as well.

You know what? All the words are important.  That’s the point of the show.

Please forward this to anyone who might be interested–not just visual artists.  The show is in July 2013 in SF and proposals are due by the end of April.

OPEN CALL FOR ARTISTS:

Character Profile