Shannon Finley: INTERFERENCE

September 17—November 5, 2016

“The story of evolution unfolds with increasing levels of abstraction.”

– Ray Kurzweil

Carrie Secrist Gallery is pleased to announce Interference, our first solo exhibition with Berlin-based artist, Shannon Finley.

Shannon Finley’s new body of artwork represents an extension of his ongoing investigation of the inherent romanticism that lurks – often hidden – within the realm of science and technology. Utilizing abstract painting as a means of executing this investigation, a combination of geometric forms that include orbs, rhombi and waves form a dialectic that is equal parts analytical and alchemical. The paintings themselves are built with layers upon layers of medium and color that form a surface that is ripe for interpretation. The results are prismatic 2-dimensional structures that appear to distribute light through an interlocking combination of color and form.

A 65 x 15 foot-long artist-designed wallpaper installed on the main wall of the gallery takes the geometric complexities of the paintings and expands the user experience. Acting as more than a backdrop, the immersive nature of the installation is an amalgam of visual meta data that is at once science (the systematic study of our universe), fiction (imagined invention) and science fiction (fantasy made probable). Illusion and reality become inexorably intertwined but rely on the individual viewer to encourage a dynamic transfer.

Finley is influenced by the writings of contemporary techno-futurist, Ray Kurzwiel and his posit that the rate of artificial intelligence will soon surpass that of the human. In today’s increasingly complicated society, the computer, as a tool, delivers the majority of the information we consume. The base method of that delivery is binary, but exponentially it becomes aural and visual. With this simple evolution from code to consumption, our inevitable relationship with artificial intelligence has been sealed. With a dose of optimism, Finley’s artwork mediates human interaction while simultaneously encouraging an evolutionary response.

Shannon Finley (b. 1974, Ontario, Canada, lives and works in Berlin, Germany). Finley received his BFA from Cooper Union in New York and also studied at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax, Canada. Selected exhibitions include Yokohama Museum of Art, (Japan), the Museum of Concrete Art (Germany), Neuer Aachener Kunstverein (Germany), the KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin, Kunsthalle Athena (Greece) and the Prague Biennale.