magdalena hill |
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| mixed media | Beauty is in the eye I 2011 I New York |
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Beauty is in the eyemixed media installation by Gary Hill costume, editing and performance 2011 |
A large stereo photograph (with the combined dimensions of 95 x 84.5 x 8 inches) which is viewed as is or with an accompanying free-standing stereo viewer approximately 8 feet from the photograph. The color image is of the artist in a phasmagoric costume complete with make-up, suggesting a cross between an extraterrestrial minstrel and perhaps a joker of some kind. The repeated motif of hexagons is expressed in a number of permutations–sewn fragments, origami folded paper and juxtaposed black hexagon-framed eyes. In one hand of the entity is a flying saucer-shaped server consisting of an array of small test tubes filled with water and containing a single flower of beauty. His other hand gestures forward with a single flower/test tube as if to make an offering. |
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Directly across from the photograph(s) is a large LCD screen (approximately 50-inch diagonal measurement) positioned vertically and displaying color HD recordings of people receiving the flower offerings one at a time. From darkness a single person emerges and walks towards the being to take the gift and is seen to reflect upon it in a multitude of ways. |
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As each person touches the flower and responds to it, a complex cloud of delicate electronic timbres bursts open, seemingly reflecting the flower and viewer’s interconnectedness. |
