It seems that artist statements are the part of "art writing" that changes the most, and often in the most drastic ways. As the artist's focus shifts, the statement has to shift accordingly. The following statement is my current artist statement, which goes with the my work in the Midway show.
Games and puzzles
are deceptively simple. They use, rely on, and sometimes manipulate,
the various social, psychological, and physical systems we use
everyday, oftentimes in ways we do not recognize. When we agree to
play a game or solve a puzzle, we are engaging with a specific event,
often with additional rules to follow. The rules and laws in a game
or puzzle keep players within its world, forcing specific player
actions at specific times. Players willingly accept these boundaries,
with the expectation that fun, excitement, or some reward will come
from participating. Likewise, our individual realities are full of
similar rules and laws. As a game is built to produce fun, our
environments are constructed to produce other actions. While video
games are an artistic medium in their own right, I am interested in
exploring these games and puzzles, not only as media, but also in the
creative potential of the mechanics, visuals, and systems within
them, and how they reflect or alter our interpretations of our
surroundings. Through re-contextualizing these various systems and
mechanics, we can see how they alter our views within them, and thus
how they affect our spacial awareness and interaction.
