Primitive Level Signals

Fri Jun 01 - Sat Jun 23

LOCATION:Dalet Art Gallery :: map TIME: CONTACT: www.daletart.com/index.shtml?e_id=37

The opening reception will take place on Friday, June 1 and will be followed by a musical response to Tan's art performed by Absinthe Drinkers on Saturday, June 2 at 7:30 pm.

In his "Primitive-Level Signals" exhibit, LiQin Tan, co-director and professor of art at Rutgers University, presents two of his art series: "Brain Spirit Levels" (2012) and "Burl + 4" (2003-2004). In the former, Tan uses spirit levels as a signal to describe a natural phenomenon in humans, where human brain development is an equalized procedure. The competing concepts of the brain - whether the battle of the brain's size versus its intellectual capacity, or of its technological versus its spiritual side--are always kept in equilibrium. In the latter art series, Tan presents himself as a digital naturalist, choosing the burl/lava as the natural art form to explore his "Digital-Primitive" theme in a multifaceted and reciprocal process: Making digital 3D images through primitive technology and materials, while also making primitive rawhide/wood/rock art through digital technology.

This exhibition of work consists of spirit-level installations alongside dozens of digital prints on metal, wood, and rawhides. There are also numerous animations projected onto suspended rawhides and LCD monitors displaying separate animations.