Motor Pixel
(Maastricht / Gubbelstraat 22-26)
The artist Atomic Elroy (1964, United States) uses various media. His works are bulking large in clichés, sarcasm and bad jokes. Atomic Elroy considers himself an ‘art humorist’, an anti-artist. He queries the necessity of underlying meaning and superficial appearance in the arts and is regularly very critical of the art world.
In Motor Pixel we witness a ride on a Vespa through Sacramento, California. In this contemporary road movie the artist zooms in and out, making the streetscape on the whole fairly recognizable. Parts of the recorded journey are ‘blown up’ to such an extent that large colour blocks are dancing on the screen. The sound helps us make sense of what we see. Thanks to the familiar sounds of passing traffic the viewer identifies the street, the trees and electricity cables along the road and the built environment on both sides. This work is a striking instance of how our various senses and the unconscious and conscious work together to give meaning to experiencing a fragmented landscape.