With special attention to my materials and process, my work addresses the history of visuality and reproduction from the 1890s to the 1980s. During the Victorian period technological advancements allowed engineers and inventors to develop small optical devices to project and reproduce images (e.g., the magic lantern, zoetrope, etc.), creating wonder and expanding our visual vocabularies and expectations. In the 1980s, consumer electronics became increasingly affordable and compact with the Walkman, VHS, and PC. Through drawings and sculptures I explore 100 years of imaging technology, by rendering obsolete image making devices, both existing and of my own invention.
By working with transfer paper, foam-core, paper, and landscape model elements, my work engages in a dialogue with crafts, models, architecture, and engineering. In keeping with the simplicity of my materials, I have sought the most rudimentary means of producing images. While the “optical devices” that I am constructing and inventing reference the lineage of image making, they also posses an unfamiliarity that alludes to retro-futurististic and science-fiction aesthetics. Within each foam-core construction is a landscape model that is illuminated. The image of the model is then reflected through a series of mirrors and lenses and projected on to a screen. While there is a material simplicity with the work, there is also a mechanical complexity that challenges the ease and compactness of digital imaging. Within these works is a three-fold system of representation –that of the image being projected, the landscape as image, and the optical device itself. Moreover, the mechanical and fanciful nature of my work addresses the nostalgic and constructed “small world” quality of models and the playful aspects of invention.
Genevieve Quick received her M.F.A. in sculpture from San Francisco Art Institute and B.A. in political science from the University of Michigan. She has shown at the Walter and Mc Bean Galleries at San Francisco Art Institute, Gallery Paule Anglim, Villa Montalvo, Headlands Center for the Arts, the Lab, and AOV. She has also been awarded the Louise Bourgeois Residency at Yaddo and the John and Susan Diekman Fellowship at Djerassi. Quick has also served as a juror for the Diego Rivera Gallery at San Francisco Art Institute and is co-curator for the traveling exhibition, Gold Rush: Artist as Prospector. Quick has contributed writings to the Present Group, ShotGun Review, Michael Rosenthal, and is a regular contributor to Art Practical.
By working with transfer paper, foam-core, paper, and landscape model elements, my work engages in a dialogue with crafts, models, architecture, and engineering. In keeping with the simplicity of my materials, I have sought the most rudimentary means of producing images. While the “optical devices” that I am constructing and inventing reference the lineage of image making, they also posses an unfamiliarity that alludes to retro-futurististic and science-fiction aesthetics. Within each foam-core construction is a landscape model that is illuminated. The image of the model is then reflected through a series of mirrors and lenses and projected on to a screen. While there is a material simplicity with the work, there is also a mechanical complexity that challenges the ease and compactness of digital imaging. Within these works is a three-fold system of representation –that of the image being projected, the landscape as image, and the optical device itself. Moreover, the mechanical and fanciful nature of my work addresses the nostalgic and constructed “small world” quality of models and the playful aspects of invention.
Genevieve Quick received her M.F.A. in sculpture from San Francisco Art Institute and B.A. in political science from the University of Michigan. She has shown at the Walter and Mc Bean Galleries at San Francisco Art Institute, Gallery Paule Anglim, Villa Montalvo, Headlands Center for the Arts, the Lab, and AOV. She has also been awarded the Louise Bourgeois Residency at Yaddo and the John and Susan Diekman Fellowship at Djerassi. Quick has also served as a juror for the Diego Rivera Gallery at San Francisco Art Institute and is co-curator for the traveling exhibition, Gold Rush: Artist as Prospector. Quick has contributed writings to the Present Group, ShotGun Review, Michael Rosenthal, and is a regular contributor to Art Practical.
