BRODY CONDON: 3 MODIFICATIONS

Opening: Nov 15th , 2007 @ 6-9 pm
Dates: Nov 15th -Dec 15th, 2007

Virgil de Voldère is proud to present our second solo exhibition with Brody
Condon. In the three works on view, the artist digitally reconstructs a trio
of well-known late-medieval paintings from northern Europe by Hans Memling,
Dieric Bouts, and Gerard David. By re-imagining the religious content of the
original works, the artist presents calm scenes of transcendence that slowly
give way to anxiety and spiritual trauma.

For 3 Modifications, Condon modifies current computer games with strategies
and tools taken directly from online participatory subcultures to create
slowly animated, transfigured works that function as moving paintings. The
subversive tactics of hacking and the intervention into commercial computer
games that characterize the artist's previous work, however, have given way
to a critical examination of the politics of representation. Formally,
Condon conflates the development of perspective and realism in Flemish art
from the fifteenth century with the evolution of computer graphics in
present-day games. Thematically, though, the work in 3 Modifications
explores the roots of 1960s countercultural ideologies, the religious
environment of early modern Europe, and various means of transcending the
physical body through drugs, prayer, and meditation, as well as through game
avatars and role-playing. Shown as projected moving-image installations from
small custom-made computers, these "self-playing" games run continuously
like games waiting for the viewer to pick up the controller.

Condon denies interactivity, a crucial feature of the game medium, to the
viewer. Rather, the works in 3 Modifications emphasize the possibility of
three-dimensional installation and performance art within a digital screen
space. Further confronting contemporary countercultural beliefs with
late-medieval mainstream religious iconography, Condon explores cultural
misinterpretations of historical visual archetypes, presenting an anxious
space where history, religion, personal mythology, and fantasy intermingle.

For further information, please contact the gallery + 1 212 343 9694
Location: 526 West 26th Street - 4th Floor - Room 416 - New York
Gallery Hours: Tuesday to Saturday 11 am - 6 pm and by appointment