Things Are Risky, Baby
Environmental installation of painted animations and sculptures
SPRING/BREAK Art Show
curated by Thred Projects
Armory Art Week 2015
New York, NY
Things Are Risky, Baby explores the difficulties of emotional transactions within dysfunctions of language in a world where things aren’t how they appear at first glance. Through interplay of paint, animation, sound, and sculpture, Wick examines layers of trust and expectation, ranging from the intimacy between loved ones to the uncertain between artist and viewer, and the unknown between the individual and the universe. Applying a poetic and often metaphorical language to her playfully presented animations, Wick attempts to decode transmissions of words and the exchange of ideas. The variable nature of meaning is probed through repetition, change of context, and unexpected settings.
The installation presents a fun and friendly ‘after-school special’ experience. The space is filled with multiple screens sitting on low tables and mounted on walls, children’s stools, and paper mâché sculptures. Each screen hosts a looping video of a different painted animation with accompanying sound. Their light projects shifting over-saturated hues throughout the room, which catch on both the sculptures and visitors. The color and movements, along with the placement of children’s stools directly in front of the televisions hope to encourage an intimate and nostalgic interaction with the work.
Themes of love, sexuality, fear, crisis, and cyclical/reciprocal relations to the world, are examined in Wick’s animations, through the lens of the limitations of verbal language. Rhythmic spoken verse and song are paired with the animations, intending to draw the viewer in with the repetitive and hypnotic nature of sound. They are structured in short loops, which are highly dependent on language, song, and cadence, composed of repeating phrases or words that develop new meaning with each cycle. Through animation Wick plays with modes of painting that allow her to continuously animate and reanimate the process of experience, its movements revealing the inherent awkwardness and humor that echo our vulnerabilities.
Surrounding the viewer, pieces of the animation are physically embodied in the paper mâché sculptures on the floor and hanging from the ceiling, acting as both physical relic and scenery. Their presence is meant to reinforce the connection between the world on the screen to that of the viewer, while their close proximity and casual placement present an opportunity for tactile interaction.
Things Are Risky, Baby: a seemingly innocent invitation into a dialogue about miscommunications and expectations.