Air Travel at Corridor 2122, Fresno, California
Curator: Julia Bradshaw
"Bradshaw has pulled together an impressive lineup of artists that, frankly, far exceeds the scope of most ArtHop exhibitions." Donald Munro in the Fresno Bee, August 31, 2011.
PRESS:
Munro, Donald "Artists offer 'Air Travel' views at Corridor 2122", Fresno Bee, August 31, 2011
Official Website: Website for the airtravel project at Corridor 2122
PRESS RELEASE:
Corridor 2122 in Fresno, California presents artwork by eight artists on the theme of air travel. Opening on Thursday, September 1, 2011 from 5pm until 8pm and on view weekends from noon to 4pm throughout the month of September, the exhibition brings together local and internationally-renowned artists whose work probe different responses to air travel. Artworks take you back to a time when flying was rare, glamorous and adventuresome; a time when air-travel represented freedom. Other artworks are triggered by today’s flying experience; a time inspired by data and schedules, anxiety and fear, surveillance, boredom and the mundane.
Aaron Koblin is an artist specializing in data and digital technologies. His data-visualization piece flight-patterns on view at Corridor 2122 uses data from the U.S. Federal aviation administration to create animations of flight traffic patterns and density. His projects have been shown at international festivals including Ars Electronica, the Japan Media Arts Festival, and TED.
San Francisco based artist duo t.w. five, makes massive hand-cut vinyl art installations and brings to Fresno their large-scale vinyl art version of the baggage carousel depicting the banal tedium of the continuous, quiet and people-less operation of the airport luggage retrieval space. The duo consists of artists Paula Pereira and Pernilla Andersson; a collaboration between a Brazilian and a Swedish artist.
The green hue in Fresno-based artist Stephen Dent's paintings is indicative of the green phosphor monitor of a night-vision camera. Depicting surveillance images of military airport landscapes, Dent’s images create tension and induce anxiety. His images depict routine airport operations, but the green phosphorous hue is suggestive of the more watchful eye of a military maneuver. Stephen Dent teaches at Willow International Community College.
Hasan Elahi is an internationally acclaimed interdisciplinary artist whose work examines issues of surveillance, simulated time, transport systems, borders and frontiers. For Corridor 2122, his two-channel video piece is part of his ongoing project “tracking transience” (http://trackingtransience.net/); an artwork initiated from a time when the FBI mistakenly listed him on its terrorist watch list.
Currently based in North Carolina itinerant-artist Jonathan Brilliant shares a selection of his drawings taken from the viewpoint of his airline seat; which he sketched when travelling across the country from art venue to art venue. From May 2009-December 2010 he conducted his "Have Sticks Will Travel World Tour". The tour was a marathon series of site-specific art installations that took place in thirteen galleries in three countries.
Fresno based painter Leslie Batty takes a nostalgic perspective reflecting upon a time when air-travel was an exciting and thrilling adventure. Her paintings of 1950's/60's air-stewardess uniforms refer to a time when air-travel was rare and glamorous. Leslie Batty is a recent graduate of Fresno State's Masters in Art program.
Photographer Stephen Chalmers' series of photographs depict airplanes in mid-flight presumably taken from the window of another passenger jet. The images are simultaneously seductive, through their depiction of clouds and sky, and unnerving because of the depiction of airplanes suspended in mid-flight. The work of Stephen Chalmers is in several collections including the Museum of Contemporary Photography (Chicago).
The exhibition, Air Travel, was assembled by Fresno artist and educator Julia Bradshaw. She does not like flying. Her artist-book 'Flying', on view at Corridor 2122, is in the Getty Research Institute collection.
