“Amazing Stranger,” my MFA thesis exhibition, took place from August 13-28, 2011 at Jennifer Schwartz Gallery in Atlanta. The show is a series of images about the transition from childhood to adulthood and the desire for clarity. Inspired by fairy tales, the images portray life as a more or less random series of events rather than illusory defining moments. The absolutism and simplicity of being a kid fades into the murky and necessary relativism of grown ups.
The Amazing Stranger is an action figure in the act of becoming, seeking purpose, supposing that there is an end, but with a dawning suspicion that flux is the natural state of being.
In the words of author J.G. Ballard, “There’s a limit to the number of cars and microwaves you can buy. What do you do then?”
As a companion to the exhibition, I also posted four images on a 45-foot digital billboard in Buckhead that ran from August 8-15, for kicks mostly. It was a fun, simple way to get outside of a gallery and take advantage of the gigantic display devices that surround us everywhere we go. I (and many others) sit in front of a display device all day, every day, managing my own personal digital billboard that is all about me. The outdoor exposure seems like a natural progression. Scoutmob wrote about the billboard project, and I was interviewed on AM 1690′s Politely Disruptive radio show.
In general, advertising tells an individual what they are missing, and how a product or service can fill that void. The Amazing Stranger images want to affirm the viewer’s value through the basic human interaction of polite conversation. The signs say “Yes,” “Please,” “Thank You,” and “You are Welcome.” There is no second step to these messages, nothing to buy, nowhere to go, no number to call. The images appeared 1,000 times per day in 10″ rotation with seven other advertisers. About 31,000 people passed by every day.
These images are a simple interaction intended as a brief interruption of the endless commercial flow surrounding us every day. I expect to write a grant to get some money to do more and expand the project, because I really enjoyed it.
[You can see many more images from this series in my Flickr stream.]
I'm Jason, a real live digital