Adam Magyar: Kontinuum

Adam Magyar: Kontinuum

Kathleen O. Ellis Gallery at Light Work: January 14 – March 15, 2013

Artist Lecture: Thursday, January 31, 5p

Gallery Reception: Thursday, January 31, 6-8p

Urban Video Project, Everson Museum of Art site: January 10 – February 2, 2013

Hot Chocolate with the Artist: Friday, February 1, 6-7p

Light Work is pleased to announce the exhibition Kontinuum, featuring the work of Adam Magyar.  The Hungarian artist has been receiving significant international attention with his art that explores concept of urban life. Magyar depicts the synergies of people, the cities they inhabit, and the technological support structures created to facilitate life in large cities. He explores the flow of time and life through multiple photography and video-based series, three of which will be presented in Syracuse.

Magyar uses unconventional devices, such as an industrial machine-vision camera that relies on scanning technology. Utilizing software and drivers which he programs himself, Magyar creates constructed images that capture moments in time and place that can neither be seen with the bare eye nor conventional optical cameras. The resulting photographs break with traditional Renaissance-defined perspective. The images combine the aesthetics of classic photography with a technology that redefines our understanding of linear time and singular space in a perfect blend of science and art.

While Magyar uses technology rarely applied in fine art, his emphasis is on basic questions of how we understand ourselves within society and as that society. Seeking to find an objective way to see the world around him, he has turned to a technology that captures time as well as the flow of society, while eliminating most other elements that make up urban life. In the end, Magyar scrutinizes the transience of life and man’s inherent urge to leave some trace behind.

The exhibition features custom-framed digital silver gelatin prints and pigmented inkjet and will be accompanied by a 48-page monograph on the artist. The Light Work-curated show will then travel throughout the country.

From January 10 through February 2, Magyar’s video Stainless will be featured at the Urban Video Project’s Everson Museum of Art site. The video will run Thursday–Saturday, dusk–11p. The Urban Video Project (UVP) invites the public for “Hot Chocolate with the Artist.” The special event is scheduled for February 1, 6-7p at the Everson Museum of Art, 401 Harrison Street, Syracuse, NY. Urban Video Project is a multimedia public art initiative of Light Work and Syracuse University that operates several electronic exhibition sites along the Connective Corridor in Syracuse, NY.

About the Artist:

Magyar’s work has been exhibited in various solo and group shows internationally including Helsinki Photography Biennial in Finland; MFAH Mixed Media event and the Graduate School of Design Harvard University in the USA; Berlin Selected Artists exhibitions in Germany; the Ethnographic Museum Budapest and Faur Zsofi Gallery in Hungary; Rhubarb Rhubarb in the UK; and Karin Weber Gallery in Hong Kong. His work is part of numerous collections, such as Deutsche Bank, the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, and the Bidwell Projects. His photographs have been published in the book In the Life of Cities by the Graduate School of Design Harvard University, Light and Lens by Robert Hirsch, and in photography magazines including PDN and PQ Magazine in the USA, Flash Art in Hungary, Digital Camera Magazine in UK, and Katalog in Denmark. He lives in Berlin. His work can be viewed at www.magyaradam.com.

Also on view at this time is the Light Work Grants exhibition, featuring the work of the 2012 Light Work Grant winners Dennis Krukowski, Tice Lerner, and Sayler/Morris.

For more information, please contact Light Work, 315-443-1300 or info@lightwork.org.