The Meaning of the Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Mastery

In an age where humans have evolved to be great masters of both culture and nature, have we exercised our power in excess causing disruption as a result of abundance? The three artworks that I have created/compiled aim to examine the nature of oversaturation and the loss of meaning thereof. The first piece is “Cultural Petri,” a fully physical piece that consists of a traditional picture frame and ceramic bowls. “Cultural Petri” should evoke the feeling of a bird’s eye view, giving the viewer a chance to withdraw from our cities and see the world from a higher perspective. The second piece is “Message From a Keyboard,” a semi-abstracted piece–given that rather than focusing on earthbound materials, the piece is concerned with words and symbols. The elements of the piece are: Victorian flower meanings, keys for encryption, and concepts of cultural inheritance. The third piece is a full abstraction: it is composed of sound and movement, a contemporary piece of lyrical music performed with sign language. The driving force for this last piece is to explore different mediums of communication, apart from merely the lyrics. The three pieces should offer various ways of interaction because they present themselves in all forms: sight, sound, movement, and words.  As a narrative, the three works should give a sense of humanities’ trajectory from nature to culture. To contextualize this body of work I will also write an artist’s statement that will further explain the decisions and connections that are embedded in the pieces and the exhibit as a whole.