Karla Knight, Red Spaceship (UR OM UM OX UH), 2018, colored pencil and graphite on paper, 50 x 90 inches

21st Century Cyphers

May 12, 2018 – July 14, 2018

May 12 - July 14, 2018

21st Century Cyphers is a group exhibition about the phenomenon of language in the technological age. It brings together visual artists who use both written and spoken language structures in their work through translation, abbreviated means of communication such as symbols and glyphs, and visually coded ways of conveying information. Using a variety of processes that include painting, sculpture, digital and new media, installation and sound, the works on view in this exhibition highlight language itself as a diverse medium to be explored, dissected and reframed to reflect the nuances of communication in the 21st century.

Curator Claude Smith, 516 ARTS’ Exhibitions and Fulcrum Fund Manager, says, “Contemporary language is a complex melting pot of syntax, emotion and expression. It has become increasingly common to express our feelings visually, due in part to the frequency in which our daily correspondences are mediated by a screen. We now conveniently have immediate access to entire dictionaries or repositories of alternative language signifiers. Textual abbreviations, symbols, glyphs, memes, gifs and even video/sound clips are ready for deployment as clever substitutions.”

The artists in 21st Century Cyphers explore these notions, using language and words as the basis for literal compositional structure as well as creating new systems for communication that reflect a growing hybridization with technology and a desire to locate oneself within that expanding universe of possibility. Featured artists: John Phillip Abbott (NM), Gina Adams (KS), Mirtha Dermisache (Argentina), Bart Exposito (NM), Asuka Goto (NY), Sky Hopinka (WI), Nina Katchadourian (NY), Karla Knight (CT), Matt Magee (AZ), Guillermo Gomez-Peña & Enrique Chagoya (CA), Hayal Pozanti (NY), Walter Robinson (NM) and Joel Swanson (CO).

PRESS

Kathaleen Roberts, “516 exhibit explores nuances of 21st-century language” Albuquerque Journal

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    Hayal Pozanti, 8 (million tons of plastic that go into the sea each year) 2018, site-specific mural, 216 inches diameter
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    Hayal Pozanti, (from left) Simpler Terms #2, 2015, digital animation, color, sound, looped, edition of 3; 268 (Miles per hour, the speed at which the brain can process information), 2015, Acrylic on canvas, 60 x 60 inches; 81 (Percentage of CEOs with high intuition scores who doubled their business in five years), 2016, Acrylic on canvas, 60 x 60 inches, all courtesy Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco, CA
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    Walter Robinson, (from left) Eye Chart (Visceral Knowledge), 2010, MDF, wood, epoxy, metalflake, 49 x 32 x 2 3/4 inches, Tartan Wordcross (Cruel Truth), 2011, Mdf, epoxy, metalflake, 48”H x 48”W x 1.5”D, Labyrinth - Face/End,  2018, Mdf, wood, epoxy, metalflake, 49 3/8” x 49 3/8” x 2”. 
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    Joel Swanson, Zapf Dingbats Revolved Around Their Y Axis, 2015, 3D printed plastic, approximately 2" x 2" each, Sol Lewitt's “Sentences on Conceptual Art,” Diagrammed, 2011, painted steel, dimensions variable, courtesy David B. Smith Gallery, Denver, CO
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    John Phillip Abbott, Silver Fortuna, 2016, Acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 72x60 inches, Datsun, 2017, acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 72 x 60 inches
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    Matt Magee, 516 Grapheme, 2018, site-specific mural, latex house paint, pencil, 6 x 16 feet, courtesy of Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
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    Karla Knight, (from left) Spaceship #97, #98, #99, 2018, colored pencil and graphite on paper, all 21 x 21 inches, Red Spaceship (UR OU OM OX UH), 2018, colored pencil and graphite on paper, 50 x 90 inches
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    Bart Exposito, (from left) Heads of State (yellow), 2018, acrylic and charcoal on paper, 21 x 29 inches, Untitled, 2018, acrylic and conte on paper, 3 panels each 51.5 x 38 inches
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    Gina Adams, (from left) Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Broken Treaty Quilt 2, handcut calico letters and cotton thread on antique quilt, 80 x 85 inches, John Phillip Abbott, El Farro, 2017, acrylic and spray paint on canvas, Blue Zen, 2018, acrylic and spray paint on canvas, Yellow Datsun, 2018, acrylic and spray paint on canvas
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    Asuka Goto, lost in translation, 2016-2017, pencil and collage on paper, cork board, dimensions variable
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    Sky Hopinka, Visions of an Island, 2016, video, total run time, 15:00