Cameron Gray
victoria brandt
Cameron Gray was Born in Anaheim, right down the street from Disneyland, and has lived all over California. This alone should sum up what “Gymnasty”, his last show at mike weiss gallery, was all about. Gray shares his thoughts with us about the over saturated internet, MIke and Claire, Spandex and the GIFration*
Tell us about the idea behind “Gymnasty”
My personal relationship with the internet. I am working with and trying to spend less time on the internet. The whole Gymnasty show is a look at this feeling of being overwhelmed, and this saturation of media.
What kind of imagery inspired the GIF multi projection tunnel?
The whole LA culture of spandex, working out, self improvement, facial plastic surgery and all that stuff is in there. Thousands and thousands of images, it is just really about ultimately putting everything in and then letting the viewer kind of become overwhelmed to the point that it becomes an abstraction. I have my own references, whether it is Beyoncé or any other pop culture references. It is just the internet. It is this tunnel of transformation that ultimately does not transform you in any way.
How was it to collaborate with Mike and Claire?
They came to see my first show at Mike Weiss gallery, and then contacted me. I sat down with them at a coffee shop and then just laughed the hardest I had laughed in years, like my stomach hurt. Just having fun with them. They just inspired me in so many ways. They are just so creative. They are so on top of it. They are so fearless. I am eternally grateful for them and what they brought.
You use photoshop as a medium and not just a tool for editing, is that part of your criticism on media and how you can change what a medium is?
This is a work I had started before “Gymnasty” and I felt a lot of pressure to go back into video and I did find my way to projection which was really fun. I made some discoveries along the way with projection that I am excited about but it does come back to this idea of working in video and collage. I think this idea where I have gone into complete over saturation has now led me to sort of more of a minimalism that I am really interested in exploring. I was never interested in minimalism before, but I am starting to see the power of it.
*GIFration - the GIF Generation