The recently inaugurated exhibition “Unit Baccalaureate” at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Miami, features recent works by artist Avery Singer, who skillfully blends analog and digital tools to create intricate paintings. Using commercially available software to model and animate figures that serve as pseudo-architectural renderings, Singer then uses airbrush techniques to create layers of content, building a narrative physically on the canvas.
In “Unity Bachelor,” Singer kicked off a new series of fictional works based on his real-life experience of coming of age in New York in the early years. The geometric approach to figuration that Singer employs, as in the 2022 painting Free fallset against the backdrop of September 11, 2001, evokes the sharp edges of the Manhattan skyline, forever changed in a day, and the fractured memories of collective trauma.
In an exclusive interview filmed in 2017 as part of The Art21 series New York close up, the artist reflected on his very particular process and how it informs the subject matter of his works, explaining “the way the paintings are made is almost the content”.
“I would like to keep it a bit looser and explore things with technique,” she added of her method of using traditional tools in a contemporary way. “The technique tells its own story.”
“The juxtaposition of all these things produces meaning. I try to put things side by side that maybe have never been seen together before to produce a new relationship or just to produce a new visual reality.
Watch the video, which originally appeared as part of Art21’s series New York close-up, below. “Avery Singer: Unity Bacheloris on view through October 15, 2023 at ICA Miami.
This is an episode of “Art on Video”, a collaboration between Artnet News and Art21 that brings you clips from artists who are making the news. A new season of the flagship series of the Art21 association Art in the 21st century is now available on PBS. Watch all episodes of other series, like New York close up And Extended gameand learn about the organization’s educational programs at Art21.org.
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