© Jordan Tate. Material Details from SUPERBLACK #1
Transformer Station 1460 W 29th St OH44113 Cleveland États-Unis
SUPERBLACK : A Glimpse Into the Void
Jordan Tate Presents An Artistic Voyage of Reality and Perception
Cincinnati – February 17, 2014 – « SUPERBLACK,» the forthcoming exhibit from Jordan Tate, is poised to reveal the dark secrets of our universe through a transformative experience that boldly confronts our conventional perceptions of reality. On March 28, 2014 at the Transformer Station in Cleveland, Tate will unveil SUPERBLACK, a space of “limitless visual capacity.” Bridging the realms of art and science, Tate has engineered the darkest thing youʼve ever seen.
Two years in the making, SUPERBLACK challenges audiences to probe their views on duality by proposing a glimpse into the proverbial void through sculpture, photography, and the namesake installation. Providing a shrewd counterpoint to our sense of darkness, Tate opens a dialogue between physical reality and our metaphysical ideas of time and space.
In the 20th Century, advances in technology allowed scientists to study light in ways never imaged, and allowed artists, such as those at Pantone, to quantify color, a concept which had always held subjective meaning. Arguing against this duality of investigation and introspection are a series of photographs depicting digital renderings of space, as well as photographs taken on Mars by NASAʼs Curiosity Rover. These data-driven images and sculptures dispute our sense of perception, arguing that data does not translate into experience; that to really be a part of something you must experience it for yourself.« Essentially, I view both science and art as modes of thinking and inquiring,» said Tate, an Associate Professor at the University of Cincinnati. « Unearthing the recesses of our concepts of reality is only a small impetus behind my work, but has led me to some of the most rewarding results in my artistic career.»
A distinguished partnership with the Nanotechnology Laboratory at UC allowed Tate to further explore the composition of binary relationships, such as light and dark, a theme that dominates his upcoming exhibit. Tate was granted unprecedented artistic access to carbon nanotubes, a NASA-developed material made of the darkest matter on Earth that is hundreds of times stronger than steel, but six times lighter. Used in cutting-edge scientific applications from cancer treatments to hydrogen cars, audiences at Transformer Station will have the uncommon privilege to view this spectacular material
at close range, encased in a light-impermeable sculpture that comprises the namesake installation.
SUPERBLACK defies the perception that black equates to a space void or absent of things. The artist theorizes that because black gives off no light, it therefore contains all that it takes in. Exploring our concepts of balance, Tate poses the following question of his unflinching work to the public: « When you view something that has no means of registering in your mind, what do you see? »
Light and dark are often viewed as balancing forces to form our reality, both physically and spiritually. SUPERBLACK is a means of disputing our perceptions of balance and calling into question what we value as truth.
« Everyone experiences thing differently, in a totally subjective way. But to communicate, we have to objectify our environment. A lot of my work questions the many ways we quantify our experience. SUPERBLACK is an aggressive critique of photography, demonstrating the futility of quantification, and illustrating a conversational dialogue about sculpture.»
SUPERBLACK opens to the public on Friday, March 28, 2014 at 7:00 p.m.
Jordan Tate © Red with color chart - New Work #174, Archival Pigment Print, Munsell Soil Color Chart, Mylar Tape, Aromatic Cedar Frame. 24" x 46”
ABOUT JORDAN TATE
Jordan Tate (born in 1981 in Louisville, KY) is an Assistant Professor of Art at the University of Cincinnati. He has a Bachelor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Studies from Miami University and a Master of Fine Arts in Photography from Indiana University. He was a Fulbright Fellow from 2008 to 2009. Tateʼs work is currently held in collections nationwide, including Rhizome at the New Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Photography, The Fred and Laura Bidwell Collection, the
About Transformer Station
Combining a landmark historical building with a contemporary minimalist addition, the Transformer Station opened in February of 2013 as a new contemporary art space in Cleveland's rapidly evolving Ohio City neighborhood. The major project of the Fred and Laura Ruth Bidwell Foundation, the space was designed to show and share work by artists represented in the Bidwells' collection of contemporary photography. In a unique private/public partnership, the Bidwell Foundation lends the Transformer Station galleries to the Cleveland Museum of Art for six months of every year to present contemporary art programming developed by their curatorial staff.
Cincinnati Art Museum, the Columbus Museum of Art, all in Ohio, and the Museum of Fine Arts (Houston, Texas).
Recent exhibitions of his works include: Herron School of Art and Design, University of
Indiana (Indianapolis, Indiana), PH Gallery (United Kingdom), Higher Pictures (New
York, New York), The Photographer Gallery (London, United Kingdom), and the
Museum of Contemporary Art (Cleveland, Ohio).
Jordan Tate © Black and White - New Work #185, Archival Pigment Prints, each 74" x 36"