Changing your relationship with art.
This exhibit provides a chance for the viewer to re-imagine a piece of art.
Christina Saj’s most recent project – Re:Create, fills an entire gallery with 12 large panels and numerous puzzle-like companion pieces. Visitors are invited to select and arrange the individual pieces on the surfaces of the panels, altering them to their liking. Some of the pieces are more figurative, others are completely abstract. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Many pieces share the signature shades of Saj’s exuberant color palette. Pieces are magnetic so they can be attached and reattached to the panels in an endless number of combinations.
Artists are always asked what inspires them and how they “do” their work. This installation points the way. It gives visitors a visual vocabulary with which to make their own artistic statements. It also invites them to engage in creative play, an important component of the artist’s design process. Through play, the illusive concept of the “creative impulse” frequently finds its visual expression. In this way, the installation provides an aspirational environment for the visitor to develop creative ideas.
The installation also alters the standard conceptual framework between the artist, the visitor and the artwork. By engaging with each visitor in a visual dialogue, Saj draws the visitor into a very personal, collaborative art experience with the artist herself. As for the panels, they resist completion and continually change in a process of re:creation.
Re:Create implicitly connects with the times. It is tethered to the truism that our experiences aren’t static and our new digital tools give every person a voice. The varied iterations of any single panel over the course of this exhibition throw some shadows on the walls. They caution that images and messages can be altered and – by extension – distorted to reflects the biases of the collaborator. The work is in continual transition and unlike most digital interactive exhibitions visitors step into the shoes of the artist and physically engage with the pieces.
Visitors are encouraged to post their work on Instagram using a hashtag and a continual feed of co-created art works posted on Instagram is maintained in the gallery for the duration of the exhibition.