| CALLISTO ICONIC MAPPING AND MATHEMATICAL SPACE IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII |
| With a background in studio arts and performance, Callisto has always been imersed in a world of creative activity: drawing, painting, photography, installation, poetry, spoken word performance, percussives, and electronic sound-scaping. The parameters of his 'performance art' stretch from dark comedy to existential scenarios of the human condition. Expression through performance may seem to be unrelated to his visual art, due to the fact that the similarities are often too obscure to notice. Callisto's visual art parallels his interest in spatial architectonics. During the early 1990's, his work turned from spatial expressionism (with minimalist tendencies) towards geometric abstraction. Symbols from different cultures throughout history were combined into a hard-edge geometric style of symbolism which then developed into a style of 'Neo-Geo' . During the mid 1990's he began a series of large-scale triptychs in which the elements of spatial expressionism re-entered. In these paintings, he began to experiment with the idea of developing 'emotional space' within the work. "The idea of 'emotional space' in painting, concerns itself with the creation of a concrete spatial structure based on poetic visual narrative..." is a concept whose roots stem from performance. This series (10 paintings 5' x 11.5') was finished in 1996. Then, a series of small-scale paintings (diptychs and triptychs) were created in 1997-8 as to further develop this idea. In 1998, he realized it would be necessary to return to a large-scale format in order to achieve the drama and 'feeling' for space that he was in search of. However, at this time, Callisto also realized the importance of continuing to work small-scale, in order to acquire a deeper understanding of intimicy within the painting. He then turned to an idea of mapping which had been an interest for some time. Thus, he began to paint on paper and explore an abstract perspective of mapping, which would simultaneously operate as an abstraction of horizon. After hundreds of studies, he had pushed this idea of mapping into the essential realm of point position, intersection and movement in space-time. This led to research in 'Theoretical Physics', which has greatly influenced Callisto's more conceptual approach to painterly abstraction. From 1999-2001, his most recent series of work concerned itself with the mapping of mathematical space; out of which color solidifies and operates as a locator of planes in which forms may exist. Composed in a flat field, he creates from spatial grids, where diagramatic views of structures emanate from this mathematical and theoretical space. Iconic mapping and super-flat imagery develop into metaphorical diagrams of reality. In any case, this body of work seems to be developing ' into' or 'out of ' an idea of what Callisto terms as 'Theoretical Abstraction': "an abstract visual expression of contemporary cosmological mathematics verging on metaphysics". In 2001, extreme views of 'microcosmic and macrocosmic' spatial systems had become more important to him as the series developed further. It was during this time that Callisto realized the need to re-introduce elements of spatial expressionism into the work once again. Any space can be reduced to its formal conditions. However, when formalism is exhausted, only a new injection of content into the form can make way for innovation. Callisto works with a sublime awareness of content; exploring ideas and interests through 'series' of paintings. At present, Callisto is developing his ideas of "Emotional Space" and "Theoretical Abstraction" into one, unified body of work. This is the basis of exploration for his newest paintings in 2002. " I find the language of painting to be a unique order of things: visual in nature, internal and external in position, precise in its expression of the human condition, and concrete in its definition of the transcendental. Painting constantly pursues an ever-changing state of existence." Callisto |
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| GALLERY I |