'MAGICALITY'

jade townsend
'Of Alchemy, Dreams and Revolution..'
2007

Opens First Thursday, July 1 and closes August 5, 2010

Including: Man Bartlett, Nick Fortunato, Johannah Herr, Baptiste Ibar, Kristen Jensen, Meghan LeBorious, Steve Pauley, William Powhida, Sarada Rauch,Garric Simonsen, Jacqueline Skaggs, Jade Townsend, Eric Trosko and Letha Wilson

“With this show, we desire to illuminate and challenge the parallels between the disciplines of art and magic(k). Both disciplines share belief systems that rely on a priori knowledge and metaphysics. In order to explore the parallels, we have sought out artifacts of practices rather than traditional art works. The difference between an artifact and an art work is dependent on our perception of an illusion or delusion. The distinction occurs through the acceptance of an idea, a value system that elevates common materials into works of art. In the art market, art achieves phenomenal values akin to precious metals and stones; the artist, the collector, the dealer, critics, and the auction houses transform ordinary materials with little intrinsic value into desirous objects. Creating the commonly agreed upon preciousness of art describes another form of magik, turning earth into gold, and in the art market, it is made possible. In the broader art world, artists can work in futility to achieve the desired transformation of their ideas, intentions into something of value, but that transformation is impossible without the belief of others.

“This show, and it is indeed a show, not an exhibition, presents a range of operators seeking tangible results; materially, socially, or spiritually. The operators include skeptics and believers whose work acknowledges the gap between what is and what could be.

“Through the use of associative thinking, non-scientific causal reasoning, symbolic expression, metaphor, metonym, and synchronicity the goal of artist and magician are the same seeking to affect change in the world. With this show we seek a synchronicity that will dissolve distinctions and help us to shed light on the dark and dark on the light. By looking at the production of art through much older means, we may discover new ways of experiencing and understanding its role.”

—W.P. and E.T.

Platform Gallery

114 Third Avenue South

Seattle, WA 98104

206-323-2808

www.platformgallery.com

Hours: Wednesdays to Saturdays, 11AM to 5:30PM