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Upcoming Shows at The Gallery at Still River Editions

Next exhibit:
Intellectual Property: New Work by Gene Gort

April 5 - June 29, 2012
Opening Reception Saturday, April 21, 4 - 6 p.m.

Intellectual Property: Stolen #3" © Gene Gort, 2011

The exhibition Intellectual Property at the Gallery at Still River Editions features archival digital print editions of new work by multi-disciplinary artist Gene Gort. His new series reveals a hidden beauty that emerges from his interaction with the technology meant to keep people from illegally copying movies. Some of the prints have elements that look familiar, while others are pure geometric abstracts.

The entire Intellectual Property series, as well as his other work, can been seen at www.genegort.com.

Artist Statement

"I have recently become interested in NOISE; visual and sonic. The current project, "Intellectual Property", focuses on the visual noise generated from attempting to extract video from copyright encrypted commercial DVD's. As an educator who uses video clips as a mainstay of my classroom practice, I am always showing samples from various sources.

Recently, while attempting to extract sequences from mainstream movies, I was struck by the endless variation of intentional visual noise this process generates in order to keep me and everyone else from illegally copying movies. Through various encoding and decoding software, I found that the variability and randomness of the encryption algorithms produced remarkably unpredictable distortions and abstractions of the images. So much so that it was nearly impossible to get the same results twice.

The images in this series are screen-grabs from this process; a kind of performance that I do responding to the real-time events I am watching on screen. The titles are an ironic pairing of "intellectual property" and the film title, like "Stolen", "Catch Me If You Can",  "Precious", "Babel" or "Gone with the Wind". The work has nothing to do with plot or characters depicted in the movies nor do they mimic any of the imagery or scenes.

The images here represent a visual equivalent to the collision of the video, computer code, encryption algorithm and extraction process,  my aesthetic sensibility and performance acumen - an equivalency that is independent of the content of the original source."

Biography

Gene Gort is a visual artist whose artistic practice is concerned with making the ordinary significant. He is keenly aware of the role of whatever medium he uses in this process be it video production, installation, digital printmaking or multi-media performance.

His work has been recognized by the Connecticut Commission on the Arts with a Fellowship for video in 2001; he has received two MacDowell Colony residencies in 2003 and 2006; two nominations for Rockefeller Foundation Fellowships in 1999 and 2003; a Pollack - Krasner Foundation Fellowship in 1997; and a New Works Grant from the Edward C. & Ann T. Roberts Foundation with composer and collaborator, Ken Steen in 2005; among others. His work has been screened and exhibited internationall y including the Boston Cyberarts Festival (2009); Connecticut Biennial, Mattatuck Museum, Waterbury, CT (2008); "50,000 Beds" project, Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum/Real Art Ways/Artspace (2007); DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park (1999); The Black Maria Film and Video Festival (2011, 2001, 1998, 1997); Foundation for Art and Creative Technology, Liverpool, UK (2006); Impakt Festival, Casco Gallery, Utrecht, Holland (2005), among others. His videotape, "Narcissus O.C.D.", was purchased in 2010 by the Connecticut State Art Collection.

He received his MFA from the University of California, San Diego and his BFA from Hartford Art School, University of Hartford where he is currently Professor of Media Arts, a program he designed and directs.

About the Gallery at Still River Editions

The Gallery at Still River Editions has hosted national and regional photographers and artists since 1989. In spring 2011, after a brief hiatus from exhibiting new work, the gallery returned to hosting shows on a quarterly basis. The Gallery's mission is to show traditional and digital prints of photographs and fine artwork, and to be a center of creativity and connection in the Danbury area.

The Gallery at Still River Editions is open during normal business hours 8:30 am - 5 pm Monday through Friday, and during posted hours for special events. The Gallery does not accept unsolicited submissions at this time.

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