Übermensch August 16, 2008

In Thus Spake Zarathustra, philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche expresses the need for man to create something beyond himself--the super man--the zenith of human progression. Artists Matt Linares and Ted von Heiland approach this charge with technosophical whimsy. Set after a technological singularity has occurred, where the machines we create can improve and re-create themselves, the images fashioned by these two artists seem distilled of dreams. “This is an exhibition,” says curator Johnny Sampson, “where the intimate and the grotesque embrace. These artists have taken machines, breathed life into them, and shaped the alternative Übermensch. Yet in this rendition of the story, confronted with mechanical mortality, the machines become, in many ways, more human than ourselves”.

San Francisco artist, Matt Linares, manipulates narrative and the subconscious into playful yet poignant dreamscapes. Using images of advanced machinery composed of wood and other un-technological materials, Linares sets up an unsettling symbolic dichotomy where nightmare and childlike fantasy merge. His paintings evoke an innocent sense of wonder as technology becomes self-aware of both its power and its limitations.

Los Angeles based artist Ted von Heiland’s, sometimes grotesque yet always sublime, sculptures reveal an intricate humanity beneath a cyberpunk aesthetic. Tender, comical, or horrific, his works juxtapose industrial isolation and introspective intimacy to elicit a cathartic empathy from the viewer. His mixed media sculptures are both challenging and familiar as they try to resolve technology and nature into a curious harmony.

Background on The Box gallery
The Box gallery is a collaboration between Splitends owner and stylist Christopher Hall and curator Johnny Sampson. It is a multi-use space, combining a minimal boutique salon with a contemporary art gallery. Located in the heart of the Costa Mesa SoBeCa district at 765 Saint Clair Ste B, The Box gallery and Splitends offer an unconventional, progressive venue for art and style. For more information, log onto www.boxboxbox.com or call 714-724-4633.

Official Website: http://www.boxboxbox.com