TRANSITION by Philippe Safire
CMA Gallery
at Mount Saint Mary College
Aquinas Hall
330 Powell Ave,
Newburgh, New York 12550
On view: Oct 29, 2022 — Jan 30, 2023
Opening reception: Oct 29, 2022, 6:00—8:00 PM
For more information, please email cma-gallery@msmc.edu
For his “Transition” exhibition at CMA Gallery, Philippe Safire has created a set of new pieces made with colour pencils and black paper cut-outs. The show also features an installation consisting of animation and video projection. Safire often appropriates familiar symbols and pop culture iconography. In this current work, the artist carved replicas of the world atlas, the American flag, human silhouettes, and the “like” icon. The works place black shapes and colored pixels in dialogue. The artist plays with contrasts between drawing and sculpture, curves and blocks, black and vivid colors, negative and positive spaces. In the Digital Age the dematerialization of these objects is in progress; Safire examines the aesthetic of this transition. The artist uses the pixel pattern as a visual metaphor to depict the pervasive influence of digital technologies in our everyday lives. Philippe Safire seeks to translate our fascination for the digital and its power to disrupt society.
