Nick Doyle
SPRING/BREAK Art Show 2016

the ecstasy of communication technologies has led us to contemporary present of crossbreeding history, cultures, icons, and identities. The surplus mania of information in our copy/past climate lends itself to floating between islands of information, to ingest the fruits of amassed research and imagery that has never been simultaneously within reach. Authenticity has fallen into a category of filtration and compression. We no longer use the markers of identity to tell our stories, but eclectically shop for threads of information that reflect our personal experiences and amass them as symbols of our perspectives. The appropriation age has taught us that context can transform the meaning of anything, at times even into a dialectical opposition, throwing a wrench into the machine of value whether commercial or personal. Who is to say whether something has value anymore when all has become transparent paradox? How can we use appropriation to to weave together new contexts for perspectives that are not only meaningful but impact us on a phenomenological level, re-fusing concept with the visceral and not allowing it float back into a river of information. The four artists selected in this exhibition use appropriation tactics to shift dimensional reality, highlighting personal perspectives that simultaneously reflect individual narratives and employ the use of a self reflexive contextual structure.