Faculty of Art

Drawing and Painting

Joshua Kennington

In Its Image

My work is an installation composed of two paintings, and a suspended cell phone that hangs in between. With a light that projects from within one to another, and a doubling of the suspended device onto the latter painting due to a cast shadow, this work comments on how art can communicate with other art works in the vicinity, and how digital media attempts to mimic humanistic work, both for our benefit, but also as a learning tool to improve and update the software within this technological order. This leads into another aspect of mimicry, which builds on and borrows from older systems of representation, older ways of thinking, a sort of hauntology of the medium from older forms of visual media and discourse. By it's nature, technology extends the length of art history, even by actively undermining and harvesting old information from it.

“A conversation takes many forms in our everyday lives. Whether having a talk with a friend at your local coffee shop, or hanging out with friends on an online voice chat, the pursuit to be social and connected is always there. This work explores this feeling of connection we desire, by inviting you, the user, into this space where two paintings are actively influencing each other through a central, mediating device. A blank screen that slowly spins, between these two paintings. A sudden flash of light interrupts the tranquility of the screen, a reminder that though these objects may seem static, an underlying mode of communication is happening below the surface. The painting that projects light outward is all searching, an over-seer to the surrounding hybrid objects, but it simultaneously connects to a larger network with objects in proximity by the suspended device. The lone black screen, which refracts and reflects the light around it, constantly projects this information like a message, with new data sets and signals sent out in every direction to the surrounding nodes of this body of work. This becomes a true network between hub and spoke, nexus and ancillary ports. These paintings are in constant discourse, and with each visitor, or user that connects to this network, an attempt is made to communicate between them and the hybrid object, which is composed of conventional objects and electronic components. The painting that projects light remains the key principle in this relationship, but in this hierarchy of knowledge, we see ourselves as bystanders, unable to communicate with these devices. Though we can identify interlined connections and signals manifested through of light and illumination, there's a disconnect, a breakdown in communications that occurs as we attempt to decipher the messages in this new visual order. Our positioning in relation to the positioning of the work becomes incompatible, an anomaly among hybrid objects that are embedded in a virtual conversation.”