Monoliths

All work on mariamman.net is protected by international copyright laws. Monoliths, 2013 – ongoing, look at the paradox of existential constants. Looking at the spectrum of ideological movements with questions such as: are pursuits for transcending existence, expressed as self-erasure, escape, and revolutionary faiths, sustainable and good for life? By studying the history of ideas complicated by a global context, and cultural appropriation, the repetitive use of hacking individuals minds through ideas, economics, social policy, biology, social media, and the reformation of age-old patterns of control through re-imagined promises. The formation of a Eurasian concept can be considered a form of utopian futurism, fascism, fanaticism, or cultural self aggrandizement.

Heidegger’s popularity in academic forums came starkly up against the work of my ancestor, Ellen Ammann, who worked for the rights of women, families, and freedom in faith. Therefore, these works are intended to serve as formal explorations of ideas and objective reality, and not as a buttress to propaganda. The forms of water and terrain are used to create visceral imagery, engaging viewers in the simultaneous experience of subjectivity and objectivity. One of my personal theories is that humans can feel the differences between something in accordance with life and that which is against life. However, such axioms are difficult to fully understand until absolute clarity is achieved, often through suffering. The dark forms of fascism and tyranny continue to haunt civilization through new frameworks of thought (ideological stews).

In the tradition of American conceptual artists studying an idea through to its end, the use of a speculative approach transformed ideological research into “word art,” described by Tom Wolfe in The Painted Word. The pursuit of wordless art forms that registers with minimal use of Sign or Value is used as a means to relate to as many viewers as possible through an empirical experience, within the privileged safety of an art setting. Despite the shift of the viewing field to increasingly virtual and screen-based formats, the aesthetic relationships appear at first glance as mirroring, and with longer-looking nuanced differences. This type of individuation is engaged by the scale of the prints demanding the viewers, confrontation with projection based on ideology and what is obvious in the reality viewing field.

Titles: Neoplatonic, Memoria Technika (5 images), Capsula: Young Lovers, Capsula: Cistern, Levetiden, Pellucid, Tabes, Currere I, Currere II, Concatenate I, Concatenate II, Esker, Luna Cascade, Anaphora, Omniscient, Under the Sun, 30 seconds of Lake Michigan, Melodi, Undulasjon. Monoliths developed into Virtual Material. Artworks have the intention of becoming public art installations and can be made from a variety of materials, including paper, cement, metal, vinyl, mosaic and textile. Contact mariammanart@icloud.com for custom size and exhibition inquiries.