eronrauch (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} eronrauch) wrote,@ 2008-01-11 00:36:00 |
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| Current location: | My desk, where I've been playing WoW all evening... |
| Current mood: | okay |
| Current music: | A random metal song as sung by rabbits... |
| Entry tags: | art, invite, reception, show, travels, world of warcraft |
Leveling
Hi all! I just wanted to extend an invitation to come out and see my most recent show that is up in Los Angeles. "Leveling" is a show that is comprised of three new bodies of work that explore the intersection of MMORPG's (Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games), specifically World of Warcraft and the history of photography.
Come visit the show 10AM-5PM on weekdays at:
eastside studios
4626 HOLLYWOOD BLVD. LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90027
Fear not if you think you missed the opening, there wasn't one. Instead there will be a closing reception *Friday, February 1st, 8-10PM* with plenty of free booze!(Also of interest is that a vintage photography gallery has opened next door, and Waco is across the street, so come see all three shows!)
Eron Rauch, "Glitch #2 (Tower of Westfall)," Archival Inkjet Print, 40" x 30"
The project that gives the show it's name-sake is "Leveling 1-70, (Currently 36)," which is a large installation of photographs in a grid. As I play the game I am taking a photograph of every player-character corpse I come across. These images preserve every corpse of a fellow player that has tried to take on too many brigands, fallen to far, stumbled into ambush by much higher level monsters, or didn't quite have the game's tactics figured out.
The second set it is a trio of large color prints that are actual glitches that I have experienced in the game world. The satori moment of the glitch, owing to it's shattering of the facade of realism, can to me be more awe-inspiring or humorous than the most spectacular magic spell or wittiest dialog. Though the images seem abstract they are also a reminder the most concrete material forces of programming and geometry that produce the game's forms.
The third body of work, called "Travels," is a series of landscapes that are shot during my adventures in the frontiers of WoW, much like the landscapes of Timothy O'Sullivan or William Henry Jackson who photographically explored the American West in the later decades of the 1800's. These photographers searched for meaning, both artistic and social, in the dramatic terrain. In a similar way, these images are an attempt to explore the strained relationship with how we as a society imagine our conflicting ideas of landscape. To both preserve and change, to fear and wonder. So too, "Travels" is a personal exploration of my confusion and anxiety about the role of the artist in our constructed world.
PS: If you would like to see more of my work, feel free to go to my website, www.eronrauch.com.
