Chris Christion
Solo Exhibition
Biomythography @ FAR Bazaar
Axis of Ego: When and Where I Enter
2017
FAR Bazaar Alternative Art Fair & Art Collective Festival
Cerritos College
Installation Images
Installation Images: Axis of Ego: When and Where I Enter
46" x 24.5" x 24.5" Video and audio clip, pedestal, magnifying glass
Axis of Ego: When & Where I Enter is a multi-media installation that opened at the FAR Bazaar Alternative Art Fair & Art Collective Festival at Cerritos College in 2017
Looking at elements within the installation: The Video
Included in the installation was the video “Axis of Ego: which draws comparisons between systematic racism and "The Formula" a specific strategy referenced in the 2005 Guy Richie directed film Revolver which is designed to allow its user to win any game"
Using different audio and film clips I engage in a process similar to found poetry taking text, phrases, audio, and sometimes whole scenes from other sources and reframing them. Cutting, splicing, and reinterpreting elements of video and audio clips from films such as Fritz Lang's Dr. Mabuse series, Norman Jewison’s A Soldier’s Story, as well as various interviews by authors such as James Baldwin I hope to make the work layered and varied allowing the ideas and viewpoints to intersect and blossom; creating labyrinthine narratives that constantly open up different perspectives possibilities.
For more information on the video series Axis of Ego click here
Looking at elements within the installation: The Sculptures
The installation also consisted of a series of multi-media objects. The exhibition space had six different installation quadrants reminiscent of church confessionals. Each quadrant contained sculptures or interactive objects that intersected concepts of inherited racial and social constructs including but not limited to the masquerading of masculinity and the methodically crafted theology of hierarchal worship.
Axis of Ego: When & Where I Enter (Installation Detail) 2017 Mixed Media (Video Sculpture, Video Projections, Fabric) Dimensions Variable
Mask #2 15" 5" x 4" Found mask, acrylic, video clip, magnifying glass
Mask #2 15" 5" x 4" Found mask, acrylic, video clip, magnifying glass
Axis of Ego: When & Where I Enter (Installation Detail) 2017 Mixed Media (Video Sculpture, Video Projections, Fabric) Dimensions Variable
Mask #1, Portal Face Mask Series, 2017 - present, Video and Mixed Media, Dimensions Variable
Portal Face Mask
2017 - present
Video and Mixed Media
Dimensions Variable
Mask Installation Images
Votive Series
2017
Video and Mixed Media
What is the Votive Series about?
The Votives Series consists of a series of multimedia objects combining sculpture, video, and site-specificity. They consist of different objects that hold visual or audio clips exploring intersecting concepts of inherited racial and social constructs including but not limited to the masquerading of masculinity and the methodically crafted theology of hierarchal worship.
Reliquary #2 2017 13.75” x 12” x 3.5” Wood, video
Reliquary #2 2017 13.75” x 12” x 3.5” Wood, video
Peep Game 2017 19” x 12.5” x 10” Wood, two-way mirror, video
Reliquary #2 2017 13.75” x 12” x 3.5” Wood, video
My Key Interest:
I was interested in Reliquaries (a container for holy relics). Reconsidering the future of cultural preservation in light of a long history of cultural exclusion. With that thought in mind, I approached perseveration of cultural perspective and history by thinking about objects as holders of a varied range of black cultural mythic and poetic resources including trauma, dreams, life experiences, memory.
Installation Images
Reliquary #1, Wood, video player, 2017
I was interested in Reliquaries (a container for holy relics). Reconsidering the future of cultural preservation in light of a long history of cultural exclusion. With that thought in mind, I approached perseveration of cultural perspective and history by thinking about objects as holders of a varied range of black cultural mythic and poetic resources including trauma, dreams, life experiences, memory.
Reliquary #3, Wood, video player, 2017
Again I was interested in Reliquaries (a container for holy relics). Reconsidering the future of cultural preservation in light of a long history of cultural exclusion. With that thought in mind, I approached perseveration of cultural perspective and history by thinking about objects as holders of a varied range of black cultural mythic and poetic resources including trauma, dreams, life experiences, memory. The video is a collage of visual and audio clips creating a fictional discovery of the "Black Planet" featured in rap group Public Enemy's 1990 studio album Fear of a Black Planet. Fear of a Black Planet explores themes of organization and empowerment within the black community, social issues affecting African Americans, and race relations in the '90s.
The Secret Life of Trees, 2014, Video, mirror, found object
Exploring a notion of objects as time capsules holding spirits of past lives "The Secret Life of Trees" is a multimedia sculpture that imagines an object on display recounting instances of a past life. The spirit is embodied by a phantom-like video clip that disappears and reappears in time segments. The video clip is of deaf activist Ken Felix Jr. aka KenX50 recounting through sign language the story of Booker Wright who in a controversial TV interview in 1965 spoke openly about racism and his treatment as a waiter in an all-white restaurant in Greenwood, Mississippi.
