Exhibitions

KARINA ALVAREZ: FLATUS VOCIS

Beverly and Sam Ross Gallery (Christian Brothers University) / 650 East Parkway S., Memphis , TN January 30, 2021 - March 5, 2021

Karina Alvarez

Flatus Vocis: The Ephemeral in the Permanence

This project is aimed at expanding two-dimensional graphic statements into dialogues with three-dimensional. Through the use of a digital device (smartphone), viewers can activate the time factor and sensitive, perceptive qualities of drawing with augmented reality.

The project consists of producing a series of drawings where the digital device serves as a facilitator for a dynamic close-up between the two-dimensional artwork and the sensory-space created through a screen.

This project will present a series of drawings (permanence) where the viewer, if they wish, can activate the time factor using their smartphone digital device (ephemeral). Using augmented reality, this action, will temporarily convert two-dimensional representations into sculptural interpretations of paintings and still lifes that represent scenographies.

The title Flatus Vocis (“words empty of meaning”) connects both realities — the ephemeral and the permanence; the two-dimensional images will seek to represent the “disorder,” the “abandonment,” the “nothingness,” which — in Henri Bergson’s words — designate, rather, an order that does not interest us; it is our disappointment that is expressed when we call that presence, absence. Thus, our life passes filling “voids” that our intelligence conceives under the influence of desire and memory. The smartphone as an object, in this context, represents part of the problem for me.

NOTE: Due to COVID-19 social distancing guidelines, viewings are available to the public by appointment only. Please contact Scott Carter, Gallery Coordinator, at scarte20@cbu.edu to make an appointment.