Cyber Cerebrum
As we are impelled into the digital era, an endless array of virtual information continues to change and displace how we experience, respond and imagine art. What we are and what we are not (i.e the self) is perpetually altered. Incorporating digital consciousness into an analog process, the works in Cyber Cerebrum set out to bring contemporary “cyber culture” to a place of visual cognition. Using intricate sculptures and paintings, Benja and Jacob’s work mirrors the infrastructure systems and databases of the internet, creating work which reshapes the self and the psyche.
A continuation of his previous series, the Daughters of Divinity, which explored the symbol of the self within a cosmic environment, Jacob’s new body of work explores how the internet manifests a universal consciousness within a physical form. This exhibit ushers in a series of firsts for Jacob – his first time using palette knives, spray paint and stencils, wood as canvas and incorporating self-shot photography. His layered canvas panels create large-scale symmetrical, “michromatic” paintings which explore the “micro” (shrinking down technology to an accessible form) and “chromatic” (color). Using primary hues as the base for his color palette, he finds the infinite within the finite.
Relying on computer processing for execution, Benja continues to explore 3D printing, using a self-built 3D printer to produce scans on wood paneling. Through the use of hydro dripping and layering different mediums – auto body paint, pva, enamel and poa plastic – to 3D printed structures, he creates a textured aliveness. Incorporating the female form into his 3D sculptures, Benja’s work speaks to the integration of humans and technology.
Together, Benja and Jacob’s multi-directional works create a cohesive collection that represents the visual truth of the virtual world. Cyber Cerebrum unites virtual erudition with the optic modes of “seeing” digital, creating a mindfulness and sensory awareness surrounding it.
EXHIBIT OPENING
Saturday, July 15th 7-11pm // $5
Featuring music by Stahlmann and Sands & Franco Baj
COLAB ART NIGHT
Thursday, July 20th 8-11pm // $5
All visual disciplines welcome; painting, drawing, sewing, design, projection, photography, sculpture, collage and more.
EXHIBIT FINALE
Friday, August 4th 7-11pm $5
With a live performance byRanelle LaBiche
& DJ sets from The Headspace Collective
OPEN HOURS
*Free* Thursdays – Saturdays 1-7pm // Or by appointment
About the Artists
Benjamin Wuest is an interdisciplinary multimedia artist working primarily in 3D printing, sculpting and modeling. He was traditionally trained in painting and having taken an interest in Zen, he travelled to Japan to live in monasteries and to seek out a teacher of sumi-e ink painting. Though he never found this teacher, Benja found one of a different discipline, that being origami. Returning to the U.S., he attended MCAD with a concentration in print, paper, and book making. He chose this concentration primarily to tie Eastern and Western artistic practices together by utilizing traditional printing methods on paper and then folding sculptures to create three dimensional artworks. He was not interested solely in tying Western and Eastern methods of working, but also in tying concepts of Eastern spirituality and Western scientific canons. With an interest in science and technology all the while printing in 2D to create 3D sculptures, 3D printing was a natural step. His current work takes an interest in tying humanity to technology through 3D scanning models in combination of appropriating design elements and geometry inspired from the digital environment.
Minneapolis artist, Jacob Charles Eidem is most recognized by his neon-pastel color palette and his celestial representation of the female form. After studying at MCAD, he turned his attention to the Minneapolis music scene as a live performance painter and adopted the role of administrator for the MISC artist collective. Later, he partnered with Benjamin Wuest, sharing a studio while focusing on exhibitions, design commissions and mural work. In the past year, Jacob has devoted himself to his new series, Michromatic. This series evolved from the previous, Daughters of Divinity, a body of work featuring cosmic environments and celestial concepts. Jacob developed the Michromatic aesthetic by experimenting with analog methods to depict a digital environment. He uses geometric mark making to fractalize the female form and bind it to the environment. Michromatic’s concept depicts universal consciousness manifesting itself through cyberspace. It is a representation of the human condition in a digital society.