Synthetic Masquerade

Exhibit: Nov. 6-26, 2008 @ SomArts Main Gallery

A multimedia exhibit exploring and celebrating the digital persona known as “the avatar”

REPRODUCTIONS OF LIPSKY'S ARTWORKS WILL BE ON DISPLAY AT THE MAIN GALLERY


"Influence"  2006.  18 x 24 inch charcoal and pastel drawing on paper. This piece depicts my avatar Filthy Fluno grasping bottles of alcohol from my best friend who, at the time, was struggling with addiction.

"Komuso"  2007.  18 x 24 inch charcoal and pastel drawing on paper.  This piece is about the avatar Komuso Tokugawa and his bio-rhythmic music that is based on ancient philosophies on chakras, color and meditation.

"Filthy in 3D" 2008.  4 x 5 ft oil painting on canvas.
In this painting, I depicted my avatar Filthy Fluno with his big afro and fangs at his art studio on Artropolis.  He's peering into the real world with old skool 3D glasses, which symbolizes and pokes a little fun at the use of 3d virtual technology in order for people to experience the virtual world. 

CURATOR'S NOTE:
As technology becomes more prevalent in our everyday lives, much of its impact on how it affects us psychologically goes mostly unnoticed. One of the few ways technology allows us to mold how we perceive ourselves (and how we want to be perceived) is expressed through the creation of an avatar for either a game, virtual world or website chat.

Current studies show that by the year 2010, seven out of ten people worldwide will have control of an avatar.

The works included in this exhibit will show the public many different ways artists perceive an avatar and no doubt many of the works will be a creative reflection of deep personal desires and fears along with concepts of beauty and ugliness.

The word “Avatar” originally came to mean "an embodiment, a bodily manifestation of the Divine. Since 1985, it has come to mean “a computer representation of a user.” Since the 1992 novel SnowCrash, the term Avatar was used to describe the virtual simulation of the human form in the Metaverse, a virtual-reality version of the Internet.

Some avatars are animated, consisting of a sequence of multiple images played repeatedly. Other avatar systems exist where a pixelized representation of a person or creature is used, which can then be customized to the user's wishes. Flat GIF based avatars are readily found in most chat room based websites.

A live broadcast of the virtual SomArts building will be projected on one of the gallery walls showing a simultaneous exhibit happening in the virtual world of Second Life.

In addition, A viewable webcast of the RL opening will be available for artists worldwide.

Curated by Capn Kurka
capnkurka@live.com