collectively GRASP

Tomorrow is Eager, the anomalies of phenomena

May 30 – June 27, 2009

Works by Chris Ritson

Opening Reception: Saturday, May 30, 5 to 8pm

sidewalk BBQ—LIVE MUSIC—BYO food + drink + cups

San Francisco, CA— Looking at transformative processes in nature and the ways we come to understand them, Chris Ritson’s work adopts media that belong, more traditionally, to the world of science than art.  Highlighting society’s prerogatives in “understanding” nature, he orchestrates intricate yet discrete environments, creating temporal narratives.  As the relationships between the materials unfold, be they living or chemical, the necessary constructions by which we view and quantify nature become akin to alchemical secrecy or mystic divinations-- the products of grade school science become a language of the divine.

Manifested as object, Ritson’s pieces are scientific specimens, cataloged during the peak of their lives, like a captured butterfly—contained, destroyed and often pinned under glass for future analysis and preservation.  In reality, the artist’s works—constructed from the detritus of the city, forest or beach—crumble, die and fade away.  His other works depict the body through discarded media by reconfiguring magazines, photos and advertisements into monstrous perversions of human form.