JAMES CLAR: DISTANT LIGHTS

SECRET LOCATION TO BE ANNOUNCED
September 30 – October 22, 2017

Opening reception: Saturday, September 30th, 5-8PM;
Artist talk with James Clar at 5:30 PM

Public hours: Sundays 12-5 PM through October 22, 2017

STRONGROOM is pleased to present, DISTANT LIGHTS, a site-specific exhibition by media artist James Clar in Newburgh, NY. Opening on Saturday September 30th, the installation will be set in a secret location to be announced that morning.

***Please visit our Facebook page or sign up for our mailing list for the location announcement. James will give an artist talk at the opening, starting promptly at 5:30 PM.

MORE INFO:

James Clar’s work uses controlled light and sculptural light systems in order to analyze and observe the effects of media and technology on our perception of reality, time, and space. Using various forms of technology as his medium, he critiques their modifying effects on human behavior and ability to enhance or inhibit communication.

For his Strongroom installation, James looks to the connection between the spiritual or otherworldly in relationship to our increasingly digital reality. The exhibition includes a central light piece that draws the viewer to a door leading nowhere, with shadows emanating from below. Titled “Nobody’s home,” it references a larger existential question of whether someone or something is “home”. With no tangible form to grasp, instead we are presented with a ghostly presence and a non-existent space.

Like the door that cannot be entered, an adjacent hanging light envelops a ladder, deeming it’s purpose for ascent unobtainable. Overhead, lights turn on and off in a pattern designed by the artist, seemingly linked to a digital projection depicting a hand flipping a light switch. This further impresses the ruse of control, perhaps over one’s ability to have a concrete effect on our surroundings, while also challenging our perception of reality by pointing out a type of “digital truth” that becomes indistinguishable in our everyday lives.

James Clar studied film and animation at New York University and received his Masters from NYU’s Interactive Telecommunication’s Program. Clar was an artist in residence at Eyebeam Atelier in New York, Fabrica in Italy, and the FedEx Institute of Technology/Lantana Projects in Memphis. His artwork has been included in the Chanel Mobile Art exhibition (Tokyo), The New Museum of Contemporary Arts (New York), The Chelsea Art Museum (New York), The Somerset House (UK), Museum on Seam (Jerusalem), and Louis Vuitton Gallery (Hong Kong).

James Clar: DISTANT LIGHTS will open with a reception on September 30th from 5-8 PM. James will give an artist talk at 5:30 PM.

It will be open for public hours Sundays through October 22nd, 12-5 PM (October 1, 8, 15, 22)

STRONGROOM is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Newburgh, NY producing pop-up contemporary art exhibitions and related public programs, activating Newburgh’s empty spaces.

info@strongroom.us
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