BODEGA

The Uncanny Valley
Annabeth Marks, Michael Kennedy Costa, Clayton Schiff
November 5 - 27, 2010

As humans we possess the ability to empathize with forms that imitate humanity but remain recognizably unreal. However, if a form is so lifelike that it is nearly indistinguishable from a real and living human, an uneasiness can replace this feeling of empathy. The uncanny valley is the term that describes the sudden dip in the positivity of our emotional reaction to a form as it approaches the perfect mimesis of humanity before actually attaining it.

Consider this a lens through which to approach a painting. Suppose the emotional shift that is the uncanny valley is the discomfort at not being able to clearly discern what something is. It is in this space of confusion and intentional obfuscation that these paintings flourish.

One can read a text in order to deconstruct it, to expose the contradictions and internal oppositions on which it was founded. A text is irreducibly complex, unstable, impossible. So too is a reality television show, an avatar, or a painting.

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