Beacon Gallery is pleased to present its upcoming group exhibition, Coded, opening September 3^rd and running through September 26^th, 2021.   

Coded is an exhibition based upon how artists reinterpret, and thus (en)code ideas, concepts, and language through their artwork. The ways in which every one of us interprets and produces information marks us as either an "insider" or an "outsider.” Cryptography, hobo hieroglyphics and religious iconography, for example, all have been used either to entrench privilege or as a refuge. 

Coded draws back the curtain on messages found in artwork; those produced both consciously and subconsciously. How are we engaging with what we experience? How are we marking ourselves as part of one community and not another? How are we sharing our experience with others?  

With ‘The Invisible Shape of Us’ Remi Picó explores the experience of togetherness in the body at microscopic level and how it translates in a geometrical code that shapes us. For this work he cultured human skin cells in a petri-dish to synthetically recreate and register the cellular organization and cooperation forming the ‘invisible’ structure that protects and shapes us: the human skin.  A multidisciplinary and conceptual artist, Picó uses a variety of techniques and materials in his work. For this project he was inspired by and utilized molecular cell biology, high-resolution microscopy and computer vision to render his hyper-magnified wall sculpture.

Michael Zachary’s artwork explores the translation of images between their unique original rendering, digital iteration, and his interpretation. His work reproducing canon artwork with a hand-codified methodology explores the concepts behind much of our modern culture of easy reproduction. Zachary states, "I am interested in positioning site contingency, physicality, and a sense of place and history as a counterbalance to the hyper-mobility and fungibility of contemporary image culture, particularly digital images and the internet. Although the language of these handmade images is "digital" (i.e modular, logical, combinatoric) I am most interested in what happens when that system of making is slowed down and embraces the "limitations" of becoming a cumbersome physical object that exists in a specific (and physical) space, time, and context rather than "flying free" on the internet.”

Multimedia artist Jonathan Rosen says of his work, “MADLIB is my first algorithmically generated piece from my Dream Machine mirror series. 1000 verbs and 1000 subjects flash independently on the mirror's surface… In MADLIB the computer becomes the sole creator of over a million phrase combinations. When viewers take a photo, a single phrase is frozen over their reflection. From this randomness perhaps we can perceive an insight into our lives. Viewers be warned!”

Brazilian native Julia Csekö approached her Coded contribution from a different angle and explored questions of identity. Her piece is a textile work merging the American and Brazilian flags. She explains, “The national symbols of my two countries, North America and Brazil offer so much information about history, culture, and traditions. I have been asking myself how we can think of nationality in a more porous, malleable way. We must not accept symbols for their traditional or historical value alone…. We must continually reinvent ourselves and our symbols, responding to our environment and circumstances to avoid conforming to outdated colonialist and imperialist discourses, narratives, behaviors, and practices.” 

Laurence Cuelenaere’s black and white photographs are selected from the unlimited existing images in our visual culture, which she turns into relics with her mark making. She seeks to emphasize invisible wounds, drawing out a story from behind an image. As such, these marks are like traces that seek to draw the viewer back into the image, to live with it. 

These works, amongst others from over a dozen artists, hope to give its viewers a glimpse into something once invisible to those “on the outside”: a peek through the eyes of another into a visual language of an alternative experience.

The following artists are featured in Coded: 
Damon Campagna
Cicely Carew
Julia Csekö
Laurence Cuelenaere 
Aja Johnson
Masha Keryan
Cindy Lu
Michelle Maroon
Loretta Park
Remi Picó
Josh Richards
Jonathan Rosen
Michael Zachary

Join Coded artists at Beacon Gallery for September’s First Friday to enjoy their work in person or to learn more. For hours, appointments, and more information, please contact the gallery.