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X-WR-CALNAME:The Complete History Of Civilization (abbr.)
X-ORIGINAL-URL:http://www.blogto.com/events/20952
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SUMMARY: The Complete History Of Civilization (abbr.)
LOCATION:Le Gallery
URL:http://www.blogto.com/events/20952
DESCRIPTION;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:Scott Sawtell is fascinated by the ways in which humanity defines its histo=
ry through imagery and objects, and questions the authority of museums and =
textbooks to give absolute truth to this history.  Scott writes that =E2=80=
=9Cas I walk through museums, I am struck by the separation that I feel wit=
h the objects.  Even though the rooms are categorized into floors and rooms=
 and display cases and didactics, all of the artifacts tend to flow with on=
e another.  This feeling is accentuated more when I get my pictures home or=
 when I remember my experience afterwards.  The same is true for art histor=
y.  Once an artist in canonized, it is difficult to remember the messy and =
chaotic nature which led to the creation of most of the artwork we see.  It=
 is almost impossible for me to imagine Giotto having a =E2=80=9Cbad art da=
y=E2=80=9D.

This division between the meanings of the object or image and the presentat=
ion is the basis for Scott=E2=80=99s current body of work.  There are two m=
ain sources for the paintings: the museum or the art survey textbook.  In b=
oth cases, Scott fractures, combine images and abstracts from the original =
images. =20

The abstraction serves three purposes.  Firstly, it ruptures the picture wh=
ich makes the painting self-referential.  This self-reference illustrates t=
he tension between the object and my personal experience with the painting.=
  Secondly, the abstraction mirrors real life experience.  The origin of th=
e abstraction might be a glare on the lens, the structure of the display ca=
ses or reflections in the glass.  This takes the attention away from the ob=
ject and instead focuses attention on the artifice of its surroundings.  Th=
irdly, it frees the objects from their conceptually limiting, modernist cas=
es.  In a supposedly post-colonial, post-political and post-historical worl=
d, only non-hierarchal and anarchic imagery is reasonable.=09

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