1×1 Art Gallery: Interference by Visakh Menon
01.01.2023
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1×1 Art Gallery in Dubai is holding Interference, a solo exhibition by Indian artist Visakh Menon. One will be able to visit the show until January 15, 2023.

The key topic Menon has been exploring in his art over the last decade is how human-machine interaction impacts perception. A glitch artist, he combines software and hardware to create abstract artworks. Speaking about making his art, Menon mentions “aesthetics of failure”. He is interested in what happens when the expected process starts to malfunction: hardware errors in graphic cards, ROM corruption in games, broken LCD displays, and etc. let one get unpredicted visual results which cannot be controlled. The artist uses custom programs to create and exploit data errors. To destroy and manipulate image data, brute force is used. After that, he starts sketching and modifying glitch constructs. Composition of such artworks is inspired by geometric abstraction and colour field paintings.

Visakh Menon, 09-Interference, 2017. Acrylic & paint markers on wood panel. 24 × 36 in | 61 × 91.4 cm

The exhibition features two series of Menon’s paintings: “Interference” and “Signal”. The works from the “Interference” series create a visual space derived from algorithmic aesthetics with the repetitive lines which create optical and spatial shifts referencing screen space. The “Signal” series comprises ink and graphite drawings in which Menon explores concepts of structure and hierarchy as informed by the diagrammatic representation of command-and-control modules seen in electronic systems, social networks, neural circuits, etc.

Visakh Menon (born in 1980, Kochi, India) is a multidisciplinary artist who resides in New York. His artistic practice includes drawing, video, installations, and media art. Among the traditional art media he uses are ink, paper, acrylic paints, and wood panels. Menon graduated from Bharathiyar University in India with a Bachelor’s degree in Visual Communication. In 2007, he got his MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Currently, the artist works as an independent art director and interactive designer. He is also an adjunct professor at the Communications Design Department at NY City College of Technology (CUNY).

Visakh Menon, 07-Interference, 2017. Acrylic & paint markers on wood panel. 24 × 36 in | 61 × 91.4 cm

Apart from solo shows, Menon’s artworks have also been featured in numerous group shows such as “The Hypostatic Transformation” (Nature Morte, New Delhi, 2019); “The New Non: New Narratives in Non-Representational Art and Abstraction” (the Flux Factory, New York, 2018); “The Space Between” (Paul Kolker Gallery, New York, 2014); Bonus Level 12: Governors Island Art Fair (New York Foundation for the Arts gallery, 2013); and others.

To get more info about the Interference exhibition, please visit its official web page.

You might also be interested in visiting “The Riff”, Anahita Razmi’s exhibition.