Statement

Chris Kysor, born 1967 in Dallas, TX. has exhibited in New York, Boston, Dallas, Houston, and Los Angeles. His work has been refered to as "Super- Graphic Color- Field Painting". Kysor's work travels between abstraction and representation infused with a sense of humor and vibrant color.


Artificial Frontiers:

The modern American city ,its inhabitants and technological devices as artificial frontier. Global Urbanization. City and suburbs are one in the same. Mc Mansions, expressways, malls, office parks, mega theaters, chain retail and restaurants, super centers, everything is everywhere, simulacra. The natural landscape, wide open spaces have been replaced by man made structures. Glass, steel, and cement rising above the old terrain to create a new disjointed horizon line. Sight lines are blocked by new architecture and commerce. Clogged arteries of traffic snake through a maze of strip malls, traffic lights, tollbooths, and billboards that were once the open road. The Computer corridor, Cell phones, Blue tooth, Blackberries, I-Pods, laptops we are completely mobile wrapped in tinted windows, leather seats, air-condition and surround sound. Flat screens, plasma, LCD, LED, high def. home theaters, play stations; x-boxes foster a culture of sensory overload, short attention span, and instant gratification. Stress, anxiety, panic attacks- the grocery store parking lot is a war zone. Coping skills are needed for survival. Anti-depressants, diet-pills, therapy,yoga, life coaching, counseling, 12-step groups.
The Internet as artificial frontier. Information super highway. Fantasy, desire, indulgence, escapism can all be achieved in cyber space. Buy, sell, trade, post. On line dating, sex, voyeurism. Worldwide travel is possible for anyone on the web. The housewife, criminal, and artist all have equal billing on the net where one can be who ever they wish. Advertising, pop-ups, viruses, spy-ware, chat rooms, instant messaging, communication is exchanged as rapidly as one can click and send.
The surface of a painting, video (flat screen, plasma, high-def), computer monitor/laptop, and gallery space as artificial frontier. Flat and smooth, bright, vivid, impossibly colorful, bumpy, plastic, heroic, shiny surfaces manipulated by the painters hand creating alternate spaces of reality, a roadside view, mining memories of the past, or a cold, stark look at the world that surrounds us. Computer generated, digitally enhanced, manipulated and applied with instruments removing the artist’s hand. Photo, video, and painting overlap and morph into each other blurring the boundaries that have traditionally separated them.

Chris Kysor ARTROOM
2006