A sculptural installation overwhelming the ground floor of the Invisible Dog Art Center inspired by R. Justin Stewart’s research into the Jewish concept of the Messiah and curated by Risa Shoup.
After two years of research, R. Justin Stewart, a professed agnostic, will install Distorting (a messiah project, 13C), an intricate environment constructed of fleece, rope and plastic that will serve as a 3-D representation of the concept of the messiah in the 13th Century. Distorting is a visual delight that will overwhelm the viewer with color and shape as it invades the Invisible Dog. Those viewers wanting to understand the connection between the sculptural elements and the information that inspired them will need only to scan QR codes, discreetly embedded throughout the sculpture, with their phone or other mobile devices to download the information they seek.
In the coming years, Stewart will unveil additional installations under the umbrella of “a messiah project.” Just as Distorting only focuses on the concept of the Messiah as it existed in the 13th Century, future installations will focus on other time periods, ideas, and stories from Stewart’s research.
According to the curator: “Justin’s work blends intellectual rigor with visual splendor. His work makes cogent those systems of information that are otherwise too vast, too esoteric to understand through casual inquiry. The QR codes embedded in Distorting create a technological barrier that obfuscates the religious implications of the work mirroring the barriers that one comes across in investigating any new, particularly complex, set of ideas.”
Read R. Justin Stewart’s interview online by Benjamin Sutton or download it here
Dates
March 10–May 5
Opening Reception
Saturday, March 10
6–10pm
Location
The Main Gallery
51 Bergen St.