Victor Artiga

Statement

My recent body of work explores the omnipresence of the digital screen and its phenomenological effect on the human body. My work often incorporates devices through which we experience images such as, digital screens, projector, in sculptural installations, which merge flatten spaces with three-dimensional space. Having a fluid relation between sculpture, screen and works on paper. I propose, that we currently experiment a degree of affect in the way we interpret the hectic circulation of images and are trying to come to term with its new iterations.

The two dimensional work is created through the use of hand made processes like collage, transfers, silkscreen and drawing. I intend to inspect the connection between the lexicon of image editing software and the human body. Commands like copy, paste, make pixel perfect, render, rasterize etc. heavy influence the way images are distributed and produced. I appropriate these commands and translate them into analog variations, producing two-dimensional work that holds a direct correlation with the digital image in terms of color, composition and perspective. My work is often a process of traversing back and forth the line between the digital and analog.

I propose that questioning the essence of the contemporary image is of crucial moral and sociological significance. More than ever are we flooded with images we consume on a daily basis, and more often without any consent from our side.

GlogauAIR Project

Berlin is a place that would be crucial in furthering my practice, since I believe it currently holds a unique relation to the distribution of images within a global context. My recent body of work deals with the physical and phenomenological transformations images undergo in times when the multiplicity of online platforms ensures alterations. During my time at Berlin I propose developing an installation that deals with an image morphing, decomposing and regenerating itself from the time I depart my current place of residency, the travel through the Atlantic Ocean and my time exploring the urban surroundings. I intend to explore the degree of alteration an image can go through while travelling through different landmasses and bodies of water.

My plan consists in keeping a methodical record of images and sound using a 35mm film camera, super8, digital and phone camera from my time of departure and subsequent time during the residency. I will gather the material, combining images both into sculptural and paper collage formats. The resulting installation will be a physical collage that occupies a gallery space, morphing sound and image into a space that deals both with its site specificity and the memory of other place.

I want to use the time at the residency to explore the details of the formal rendering of the images. For the time being, I am certain that I will employ the metadata of the files into diagrams within the collages themselves. Since I am currently learning Arduino, I plan to incorporate it into the audio component of the installation, making devices which have a paper component to them electronic/paper/audio into small sculptures throughout a room.

If there is an open studio during my time at the residency I would like to have an open performance will the installation is up. Finally, I am certain that the time spent at the residency and the interaction with other peers will positively impact the direction of my work.

CV Summary

Education

• 2017 BFA in Fine Arts – ArtCenter College of Design, California, EE.UU.
• 2014 Diploma Cultural Management– Cultural Secretariat of El Salvador, El Salvador
• 2013 Diploma in Visual Arts (Painting and Sculpture) – National Arts Centre, El Salvador
• 2009 Studies in Architecture, Universidad Centro Americana (UCA). El Salvador

Exhibitions

• 2017 Absolute/Total – (scheduled August 2017) – Solo Show, ArtCenter, USA. Fine ASS – Independent curatorial project, ArtCenter, USA.
• 2016 Vitamin C – Art Center College of Design, California, USA Clear Gaze – Art Center College of Design, California, USA Fresh Eyes Cuba, Exhibition of exchange with ISDI, La Habana, Cuba
• 2015 SUMARTE, Museum of Art of El Salvador, ESA MATADERO, Sentidos Gallery, San Salvador FEA – Festival Eclectico de Arte, San Salvador
• 2014 Tropical Taboo, Benedectine University, Chicago, EE.UU. SUMARTE, Museum of Art of El Salvador, ESA
• 2013 SUMARTE, Museum of Art of El Salvador, ESA IDEARTE, Museum of Popular Identity – Tegucigalpa Honduras RAPACES, Exhibition of results of artist residency, Matagalpa, Nicaragua Biennale of Sculpture and Ceramics from Central America and the Caribbean– Honorary Mention, Tegucigalpa, Honduras Conflictos de Abstinencia – Alliance Francaise of El Salvador, San Salvador

Residency and Awards

• 2017 Full Scholarship, ArtCenter College of Design, Pasadena. California Frank Liegel Award – Painting, collage, printmaking and drawing award. California, EE.UU. Valedictorian – Highest Cumulative GPA of graduating class
• 2016 Fresh Eyes Cuba – Exchange with National Design Institute ISDI, La Habana, Cuba.
• 2014 Residency at Printmaking studio -Taller Grafica La Sirena (Casa Los Tres Mundos), Granada, Nicaragua
• 2013 La Espora, RAPACES (Residency for young contemporary Central American artists) Nicaragua 2013 Alegria Ilustrada, La Casa Alegre, Residency. El Salvador

Working Experience

• 2013-2014 DALAB – Cofounder and co-director of an artist run printmaking studio, with help of funds from the Spain Cultural Centre (CCESV) and the European Union. – San Salvador, El Salvador

Gallery