ALEX ITO, CARSON FISK-VITTORI & DEREK FRECH

About

Fisk-Vittori, Frech and Ito’s work explore the discrete quality of information embedded in contemporary visual culture. Locations, emotive energy and power are beliedby the comforts displayed in everyday life.

Fisk-Vittori creates a symbolic navigational system with natural and common materials. Sandstone boulders hold water and become the shell for aqueous leaf compasses while stainless steel drains infer potentials for future weather. These navigational tools discuss how nature is harnessed to measure and produce social forecasts.

Frech’s wall bound works are amalgamations of found images and their location metadata. The data, unknowingly left in the source material, is visually encrypted and overlaid on the original image. By bringing the contained data to the forefront of the image Frech questions the importance of image content in contemporary culture.

Ito’s sculptural works utilize the tools and aesthetics of pachinko- a gambling and entertainment empire played in Japan. Although gambling is illegal in Japan, pachinko is openly practiced in large commercial facilities enabled by a series of loopholes. By composing the aesthetic excess of this popular gaming complex with slogans of endearment and good fortune, Ito draws the relationship between capitalist exploitation and leisure activity in contemporary entertainment industries.