[artinfo] Annoying Japanese Child Dinosaur
Franco Mattes
Propaganda at 0100101110101101.org
Thu May 31 16:10:29 CEST 2007
June 2 - August 29, 2007
Eva and Franco Mattes a.k.a. 0100101110101101.ORG
"Annoying Japanese Child Dinosaur"
Dockswiss, Luzern, Switzerland
Opening reception with the artists Friday June 1, 6 - 8 pm
Dockswiss media lounge is pleased to present "Annoying Japanese Child
Dinosaur", a portrait series from "Second Life" by Eva and Franco
Mattes a.k.a. 0100101110101101.ORG.
"Annoying Japanese Child Dinosaur" is Mattes never-before-seen series
of portraits of Japanese children avatars. They have been living in
Second Life for over a year, shooting thousands of photos. After a
process of selection, the photo-portraits get printed on canvas in
big format, bridging Virtual Life with Real Life. At times eccentric,
weird, cute or eerie, these images reflect one of Second Life's most
lively subculture and aesthetics.
When ask to give an explanation of the enigmatic title of the
exhibition the artists have referenced James Patrick Kelly's novella
"Mr. Boy": "the tale of a genetically stunted 12-year-old" says
Franco Mattes "who literally lives inside his mother, who has turned
herself into a three-quarter-scale model of the Statue of Liberty.
And his best friend, Stennie, is a child-dinosaur".
"Franco and me have always been very much into subcultures, like
Cyberpunk, Skinhead, Hip-Hop, Punk and Hooligan" adds Eva Mattes "and
Japan is the only place I've been where new subcultures are
exploding: Gothic Lolitas, Ganguros and the whole Otaku and Kawai
culture. So put all of this together and you get an explanation of
the title. Sort of".
Mattes works in Synthetic Worlds include the well known portraits
series "13 Most Beautiful Avatars" recently shown at Postmasters
Gallery in New York - and the ongoing series of "Synthetic
Performances".
Over the last months these portraits of avatars have been both
acclaimed as "eerily effective as paintings" (Roberta Smith on the
New York Times) and dismissed as nothing more than "a prank" (Julia
Bryan-Wilson on Art Forum).
For more information and images: http://www.0100101110101101.org
Dockswiss is located at Hertensteinstrasse 156, CH-6353 Weggis, Switzerland
+41.41.3901414 info at dockswiss.com http://www.dockswiss.com
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