On view April 26th - May 7th
Reception: Friday, May 6th, 5-7PM
ARTIST STATEMENT
By interpreting the surface through acrylic paint and shaped wooden panels we are able to grasp the human connection to these impersonal resemblances of the overlooked. The websites people visit, the number of alarms that are set, the way a person's apps are laid out; each of these operates as a means to personify one's interactions with the screen. The paint serves as a secondary means to show that there is a human behind every screen, consuming and outputting information. Specificity of detail is either deeply rendered or sometimes omitted, depending on its relation to the user. The paintings exist either on the flat plane of the wood, mimicking the 2-dimensional nature of the screen, or other works wrap the canvas and flow off, capturing how the form or crop and the real-world application may interconnect.
Each piece lives between a number of varied states: screen vs. surface, real vs. unreal, the constructed event vs. the happened upon, as well as the distinction between them alongside the value structure that is created. It’s contextualizing itself generationally, to the way different age groups of people view our phones, laptops, etc. Each series functions as a means to exemplify a separate interaction with the screen, in a similar construction to the online. Each new program or platform, building off the last. The work aims to be these moments on the internet and the representation of fragmented ideas or imagery in a familiar way.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Seth Steinman is a 23 year old painter/sculptor from Hannibal, Missouri. He is currently based in Columbia while attending The University of Missouri. Seth will receive his bachelor’s in fine arts in 2022 with an emphasis in painting and a minor in art history. Attending college during a time when being online is essential to education, his current work references the way that humans interact with these screens and can represent them in physical space. In 2022, he participated in the Art in Storefronts group showcase in St. Louis, Missouri, as well as the show “This is not an exit” hosted by Dogwood Studios in Columbia, Missouri.
