FACES: ON THE EDGE OF A NEW FRONTIER
August & September 2014
For September and October, the Gilmore Gallery is proud to present collages and assemblages by experienced local artist Nicholas Alex. An eclectic mix of imagery in two and three dimensions, this unique show is well worth a visit to downtown Peacham.To give you a better idea of what to expect, we've included the artist's statement below:
"Given the accelerating progress of biotechnological interventions and changes in the mode of human life, we are in the process of recreating the human form. This new body of work explores my vision, in abstract collaged constructions, of what we may look like when parts of our bodies are replaced with .machine parts guided by internal microchips propelled by battery power, and our brains are uploaded on our computers so that we become "mind clones" or digital versions of human beings. I also try to show in the artwork how we can change or augment our facial features and our bodies through tattoos and body paint, skin and face transplants, face uplifts, masked disguises that transform or conceal identity, and gender reassignment surgery, which make gender attributes no longer possible and unimportant. A face may become easily interchangeable with the face of another, gender engineering may well become the norm, androgyny may become the new cultural standard, and the fate of the human face will be increasingly determined by human tastes. Will technology and medical advances finally catch up to the human imagination? Is western consciousness in the throes of moral and sexual ambiguities? Are we witnessing the beginnings of a kind of trans-humanism where we are slowly becoming cybernetic organisms with both biological and artificial (electronic, mechanical, or robotic) parts?"
– Nicholas Alex –
