INSTALLATION ARTISTS JIM DRAIN AND ARA PETERSON CREATE A PSYCHEDELIC ENVIROMENT FOR THE MOORE SPACE

 

Wiggin Village, A Project by Jim Drain and Ara Peterson

December 3, 2004 – March 31, 2005

 

Miami – The Moore Space presents Wiggin Village, a large-scale video, painting, and sculpture installation by Jim Drain and Ara Peterson. Based in Providence, Rhode Island, Drain and Peterson are former members of Forcefield, an artist collective known for humorously exploring technology and its obsolescence. Their installation Third Annual Roggabogga, featuring psychedelic videos, electronic sounds, and figures dressed in knit bodysuits, was a standout at the 2002 Whitney Biennial. For this exhibition, Drain and Peterson build on former concerns while introducing new abstract and architectural elements inspired by comics and video games. On view at The Moore Space from December 3, 2004, through March 31, 2005, Wiggin Village is organized by Lawrence Rinder, Dean of Graduate Studies at the California College of the Arts and Adjunct Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art. There will be an opening reception on Saturday, December 4, at 9 pm.

 

Wiggin Village is a fantastical village-like setting consisting of constructed arches, platforms, gateways, and turrets. Projected onto the cartoon-like architectural elements are kaleidoscopic video images of animated abstractions in saturated colors. Handcrafted sculptures installed throughout the installation include beaded abstract forms and totem-like objects covered with knitted shrouds. Combining the handmade with the computer generated, the primitivistic with the futuristic, Drain and Peterson use materials in unexpected ways to create a psychedelic experience that is hypnotic, disorienting, and playful. 

 

“The inspiration for these works lies as much in the real world of people, plants, animals, and buildings as it does in the terrain of comics and video games,” says Lawrence Rinder, guest curator. “Wiggin Village transforms elements of two-dimensional comics and drawings into three-dimensional forms and animated imagery in inventive ways.”

 

Ara Peterson (born 1973, Boston) and Jim Drain (born 1975, Cleveland) attended the Rhode Island School of Design. Peterson earned a BFA in film, video, and animation, and Drain graduated with a BFA in sculpture. They joined Forcefield in the 1990s and gained prominence for their work produced at Fort Thunder, an avant-garde living and performing space in Providence. As part of Forcefield, they have recently exhibited at the Marfa Ballroom in Marfa, Texas, the Pompidou Center in Paris, and the Foksal Gallery Foundation, in Warsaw. Drain and Peterson worked as a duo for recent exhibitions at Greene Naftali gallery and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in New York, and collaborated with artist Eamon Brown for exhibitions at the Mattress Factory in Pittsburgh and the 2003 Biennale d’art contemporain de Lyon, France. Peterson participated in the 2004 Liverpool Biennial and in an exhibition at the Marella Arte

Contemporanea in Milan. And Drain recently exhibited at Peres Projects in Los Angeles and Galerie Drantmann in Brussels.

 

The Moore Space is a non-profit arts organization dedicated to multi-disciplinary contemporary art practices. It offers a year-round program including exhibitions, educational programs, internships, artist residencies, lectures, and performances. Since its founding in 2001 by collector Rosa de la Cruz, together with Craig Robins, an integral part of its exhibition program has been to invite guest curators to contribute new ideas and new thought to the organization and the Miami arts community at large.

 

The Moore Space is located in Miami’s Design District, at 4040 NE 2nd Avenue, 2nd Floor. Exhibition hours are Friday from 10 am to 2 pm and Saturday 10 am to 5 pm, and by appointment. For more information, please call 305.438.1163, or visit our Web site at www.themoorespace.org.