-
MARIAH DEKKENGA. zero-sum game
Exhibition
MARIAH DEKKENGA. zero-sum game
19 Oct 2019 – 1 Dec 2019
Regular hours
- Monday
- Closed
- Tuesday
- Closed
- Wednesday
- Closed
- Thursday
- 12:00 – 18:00
- Friday
- 12:00 – 18:00
- Saturday
- 12:00 – 18:00
- Sunday
- 12:00 – 18:00
Address
- 127 Henry Street Nyc
- New York
New York - 10002
- United States
SITUATIONS presents “non-zero sum,” a solo presentation of artist Mariah Dekkenga, who lives between Vermont and Qatar.
About
Three new large scale paintings will be displayed alongside a game titled “A Two-Player Game Without Opponents.” She invites participants to sit and roll the dice, but there are no winners. The objective is for two people to work together in creating a unique, randomized pattern with colorful wooden pieces resembling pixels.Exhibitions are social spaces and dilemmas in the real world do not have unequivocal results. The theory of non-zero-sum games better represents the dynamics of the world we live in because there is no universally accepted solution. The artist sets up a scenario in which competitive and cooperative elements simultaneously exist but there is no single optimal strategy that is preferable to all others, nor is there a predictable outcome.
Dekkenga’s work embraces technology as a tool, which does more than simply utilize tech as subject matter. The way in which she uses software and references computer culture constantly contradicts the classic mediums she embraces, such as painting or woodworking. In her painting, Dekkenga has developed a personalized method of arriving at her compositions. Fusing computerized color scales and painterly action, selected digital configurations are meticulously painted by hand. She gesturally builds an impasto layer beneath a geometric abstract painting, employing digital colors and blurred edge resolution. Historical attributes point toward the current digital age.
On the occasion of this exhibition, SITUATIONS has produced a publication containing a conversation between Mariah Dekkenga and artist/poet Ben Estes (The Song Cave), alongside a poem by Zoe Brezsny titled “Heart Megopolis.”
