Transmission
Art by Bjorn Bates
Exploring memory, identity, photography, and thermal prints
March 7 - 18, 2023
Reception: Tuesday, March 14th | 6-8PM
Artist Statement
“not of me but the impression I leave in space
“Transmission suggests a second self, which is a sort of internal outer space made up of an immutable self in the form of thoughts, ideas, communicable.
“I am doing it all simply to present the possibility that I might be understood.
“Room 3 work: maquettes, scans, + statement *go through old journals
“No need for backing board use coffee filter as alternative to fabric
“Like everything is spiraling out of control and coincidentally right into place
“Artist Statement: “Selected excerpts from my writing about the show” Some staged to create a narrative, used to grout together genuine thoughts. Self-reference is probably fine, maybe even include this passage.
“In Transmission, communication is a creative (generative?) act
“I did it this way because I suspected that I could.
“Should I even talk about “Breathing”? Maybe in the statement.
“patching and painting on ceiling in all rooms all next week
“second room: time
“Third room: connection
“We reach out to feel each other only to touch a cool pane of glass. But we still leave a smudge from the grease on the tips of our fingers
“Scissors chained to table
“Art is important, making something physical that I can share with others is important it’s important to make something that will exist where and when I don’t
“First room weaving
second etching
third projection
fourth print
“Our bodies are distended, we have eyes and fingers and tongues all around the planet. To disconnect from this means to detach part of ourselves
“Rm1 “Threads” weaving , sculpture, drawing, printer
Rm2 “metals” Photography and printmaking, Latent image
Rm3 “Light” Projection.
Rm4 “Identity” The AdA
“*almost all this went out the window
“I don’t want anything but the inverted camera installation in this room
“I don’t need a project, I need work.
“It would be very compromised, which makes me not want to do it.
“Budget time for talking to people
“can I sell prints? How many walls does the average person have??$$$$
“Also it’ll make me feel (and appear) like a real photographer who’s pictorial work stands on its own without having to rely on high-concept.
“The blood comes from me and the work is composed of various kinds of evidence of the bleeding.
“I’m thinking a calligraphy pen style thing. The kind with the interchangeable nibs:
“1 five things work contains
2 five thing work is about
1 Photographic representation
2 Representation of time
3 Repetition of form
4 Metal and reference to the metallic
5 Self representation formally or conceptually
6 History of photography
7 Personal history/memory
8 mundane/automatic occurrences
9 Light
10 Properties inherent to each material, truth to metal, light as material/physical object-element, reproduction, positive/negative, mirroring and reflection
“This sort of confessional style doesn’t fit with my existing work which is nearly all non-verbal, but I would consider it aspirational
“As I add more to this it’s becoming thinner more sterile
“Nah this is pretty fucking cool, I should give myself more credit
“It appeals to me in a way I can’t explain. That there is a third person inside my person and the space between us.
“I suppose my take away from this, if I look back on it later, should be that I wanted to make the image totally serve the idea
“I think it will be ok.
“If I don’t succeed, I’ll survive
“At the core of Transmission is the psychological/technological fusion between modern people and photography
“I love perfume
“If what I’m doing doesn’t fit the assignment then I don’t understand the assignment
“The dream had a profound impact on me in the days and weeks after I awoke. Trancelike. I accepted that the dream was true so easily that I needed to convince myself that the waking life, which had existed before and has existed after, was legitimate.
“which is only fixed in the minds of occasional visitors.
“The personal narrative of this piece and my intentions for its creation are inseparable from the work in a physical sense… Really, this entire room is the direct sequel to the concept and prequel to the work.
“Kicking that can down the road liberates me from both the strain of doing as well as the strain of not having done.
“Prelim. Final plan for Room 3
Now called “Language”
Room consists (spiritually) of my plans and hopes for future works
“And some of those people will come in and play a note - And some, I hope, will sit in front of the keyboard and will choose not to play.
“It’s likely that this concept will change as I execute this sculpture. I wanted to write this so you will understand where I’m I was coming from
“I wonder if I’m a good writer? I think I can be clever at times but would reading something like this, written by me, even be enjoyable?
“It’s still today, I know you were wondering
“So on that note, the design for the machine in front of you has changed.”
Bjorn Bates
Greensboro, NC
February 17th, 2023
