ARTISTS
Ander Mikalson: Solar Plexus
Ander Mikalson is known for large scale performance works involving marching bands, choirs and dancers. In Solar Plexus human performers are recast as objects鈥攆loating party balloons in shades of sunshine yellow. As the balloons expel their helium, they drift down and pile on the floor like wilted flowers. The installation is continuously tended by the artist over the course of the exhibition, with fresh balloons added every few days. Velvet curtains line the walls, framing the performative sculpture of the balloons as at once theatrical and domestic. A text-based score drawn on the window reads 鈥淟EAN INTO THE SHARP POINTS.鈥�
The helium that escapes from the balloons cannot be grasped or contained again. Helium is one of the most abundant elements in the universe but difficult to find on earth, as it is lighter than earth's atmosphere. Once it is harvested and released from underground pockets as a byproduct of natural gas drilling, it escapes forever into outer space. As we rapidly deplete the helium reserves on the planet, and experience helium shortages, the buoyant party balloon shifts from a happy icon of celebration to a poignant symbol of global ecological collapse.
Yellow is said to be the color of insanity; in the short story 鈥淭he Yellow Wallpaper鈥� by Charlotte Gilman Perkins it is a cause of madness. It is also the color of the third chakra located at the center of the body, connected to digestion and transformative power. In Solar Plexus the color of egg yolks, goldenrod, sunshine and lemons becomes a unified monochromatic landscape, an impactful impression of color that is at once cheerful and unsettling.
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Ander Mikalson is known for large scale performance works involving marching bands, choirs and dancers. In Solar Plexus human performers are recast as objects鈥攆loating party balloons in shades of sunshine yellow. As the balloons expel their helium, they drift down and pile on the floor like wilted flowers. The installation is continuously tended by the artist over the course of the exhibition, with fresh balloons added every few days. Velvet curtains line the walls, framing the performative sculpture of the balloons as at once theatrical and domestic. A text-based score drawn on the window reads 鈥淟EAN INTO THE SHARP POINTS.鈥�
The helium that escapes from the balloons cannot be grasped or contained again. Helium is one of the most abundant elements in the universe but difficult to find on earth, as it is lighter than earth's atmosphere. Once it is harvested and released from underground pockets as a byproduct of natural gas drilling, it escapes forever into outer space. As we rapidly deplete the helium reserves on the planet, and experience helium shortages, the buoyant party balloon shifts from a happy icon of celebration to a poignant symbol of global ecological collapse.
Yellow is said to be the color of insanity; in the short story 鈥淭he Yellow Wallpaper鈥� by Charlotte Gilman Perkins it is a cause of madness. It is also the color of the third chakra located at the center of the body, connected to digestion and transformative power. In Solar Plexus the color of egg yolks, goldenrod, sunshine and lemons becomes a unified monochromatic landscape, an impactful impression of color that is at once cheerful and unsettling.
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