Picture Theory Is Pleased to Present »Elias Wessel: It’s Complicated«

Picture Theory is a contemporary art gallery in Chelsea supporting early career artists and estates through exhibitions, publishing, and programming. From August 1 to September 7, 2024, Picture Theory is pleased to present the exhibition »Elias Wessel: It’s Complicated,« including a sound installation in collaboration with musician Natalia Kiës. Opening reception: Thursday, August 1, 2024, 6–8pm. For more information, please visit the gallery website or see press release below.

Installation view of »Elias Wessel: It’s Complicated« at Picture Theory New York. (All images © 2024 Elias Wessel/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Text © 2024 Evyn Bileri Banawoye, Picture Theory)

Press Release, July 24, 2024 — Evyn Bileri Banawoye, Picture Theory

Picture Theory is pleased to present an exhibition by Elias Wessel, It’s Complicated, featuring 11 photographic installations and a sound installation.

It’s Complicated is an inspection of media algorithms and our relationships with the seemingly irresistible nature of social media. Wessel documents the real-life scrolling of social media users by utilizing a long-exposure that culminates in abstract compositions that serve as reflections and metaphors to the indistinct boundaries between man and machine — inviting viewers to rethink digital media and consider the relativistic, incomplete, and fragmented worldview we consume daily. Wessel is concerned with the psychophysiological experience of a visual reality. Artificial Intelligence becomes a focal point with the visual-to-text recognition »poems« (Is Possibly Art; Textfetzen), accompanying each photograph. The artist seeks to visualize questions such as »How does digital space react to analog space?« or »How can we find clear meaning in the mass of information noise, without a discernible, trusted source?«

Image left: Elias Wessel, It’s Complicated – No. 4, 2019, color photograph, 203,6 x 154 cm (framed), including Ist möglicherweise Kunst [Is Possibly Art] – No. 4, 2021, audio 1:48 min.

Systems at Play is a sound installation in collaboration with musician Natalia Kiës, where sounds become a reflective dimension of immersing oneself in a web of digital distraction; oscillating between sound, between platforms, and between algorithms. It offers a chance to see, hear and enjoy the absurdity of the information we consume, and the disorienting, changing structure of language and communication.

Site specific multimedia installation Systems at Play, 2022 by Natalia Kiës (audio) and Elias Wessel (video).

Site specific multimedia installation Systems at Play, 2022 by Natalia Kiës (audio) and Elias Wessel (video).

Elias Wessel, »Tabloid Edition« of It’s Complicated – No. 9 (image left) and It’s Complicated – No. 2 (image right), color photograph, pigment prints, including audioworks from Ist möglicherweise Kunst [Is Possibly Art], 2021.

Installation view of »Elias Wessel: It’s Complicated« at Picture Theory New York.

Elias Wessel, It’s Complicated – No. 10, 2019, color photograph, pigment print, 22 1/4 x 18 5/8 in (framed »Tabloid Edition,« 2019). Ist möglicherweise Kunst [Is Possibly Art] – No. 10, 2021, audio, 2:14 min.

Elias Wessel, It’s Complicated – No. 6, 2019, color photograph, pigment print, 22 1/4 x 18 5/8 in (framed »Tabloid Edition,« 2019). Ist möglicherweise Kunst [Is Possibly Art] – No. 6, 2021, audio, 2:09 min.

Elias Wessel, It’s Complicated – No. 5 (detail), 2019, color photograph, pigment print, 20 5/8 x 18 5/8 in (framed »Tabloid Edition,« 2019). Ist möglicherweise Kunst [Is Possibly Art] – No. 5, 2021, audio, 1:59 min. Artbook on wall: Elias Wessel — Textfetzen. It’s Complicated: Texte aus einem a/sozialen Netzwerk 2019–2021 (Kulturverlag Kadmos, 2022).

Exhibition poster of »Elias Wessel: It’s Complicated« at Picture Theory New York.

Elias Wessel: It’s Complicated
Picture Theory
548 W28 Street, #238
August 2 – September 7, 2024
Opening Reception: August 1, 2024, 6–8pm
Gallery Hours: Tue-Thu, 11–6pm
www.picturetheoryprojects.com

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