moving cities

Hey Beautiful People! It's the last few days of TJ Norris' multimedia show "Infinitus" at the New American Art Union, so get yourself down there! It's exciting to see TJ work his magic here, thanks in part to a generous artists' stipend from the New American Art Union which allowed him to have all the details of this show made just right.

Enter the room and you immediately hear the urban soundscape written by Christian Renou. All visuals associated with this show are placed either at floor or ceiling level, so the viewer is really forced to use their body to experience the work (something I've always been a champion of with installation art.) A lightbox at the entrance instructs us in its invitational font: "reserve the right to remain silent," and I do, because I want to hear the soundscape. But as I spent more time here, I slowly start to see that remaining silent has its larger implications as well--"don't become complacent", it tells me.

Across the room and also at floor level is a cartoonish skyline, backlit to also bring a subtle light element into this gallery. Normally there is one large 12 foot window to the east that casts beautiful natural light into the artwork here, but in the center of the room is a video projection, so any hint of the natural world outside has been hidden. To properly watch this video, you are invited to lie down on one of five coffin-like platforms, which directs your eyes to the ceiling and the three video projections there.

Here's where it's all about TJ letting his creative talents shine. A collage of moving images, abstract and recognizable, brought me into that meditative space that usually comes when I listen to live music. I can see why he chose to work with Renou because the sound and image meld seamlessly.

This show ends on June 22 (this Sunday.) For gallery location and hours, click here.

To hear TJ's recent interview on KBOO's Art Focus, click here.

Interestingly, this was not my only recent experience with urban life on the screen--last weekend Christian and I celebrated his birthday at Cinema Project's final screening of their season, titled "In the Street."
They had a lovely presentation on an outdoor screen of five short films that reflected different views of the city. My favorite was Under the Brooklyn Bridge by Rudy Burckhardt. Shot in 1953, this film showed a glimpse of life in New York city over half a century ago. The passage of boys swimming in their skivvies was quite poetic, and a welcome kick off to the first real weekend of nice Oregon summer weather. It was a long and wet winter, and I'm ver happy to be moving into something else for a change.