January 25 – March 3, 2018
The pixel is just one point on the screen. Sequenced in patterns, it forms possibilities for an image. Its aesthetic history is synonymous with the interfaces of the early web to computer games to MS Paint. Sassoon’s practice has long been concerned with both the pixel and the screen, reflecting on their entanglement and materiality by constraining himself to experiment with pixelated patterns and figures as its sole visual language.
In INDEX, AVENUE, SKYLIGHT, Sassoon continues this aesthetic exploration to recall memories from three underground venues in Vancouver BC. Between 2014 and 2016, the artist-run spaces Index, Avenue and Skylight made up part of the cultural landscape of the city; providing spaces for parties, dancing, friendships and excess. Through three large scale animations and a new series of print based works, Sassoon collages fragments of memories with imaginary figures, evoking the culture and communities surrounding these spaces using idiomatic visual elements from his practice: pixelated patterns, digital moirés and isometric perspective.
Through a process of recollection and imagination, each venue is rendered as a monumental animation; a subjective record – drawn from memory – filled with a multitude of details, textures, and imaginary elements. Alongside the animations, a series of prints materialize peculiar figures and inanimate objects floating in pixelated space, conveying personal experiences and ephemeral processes at work in these communities.
Nicolas Sassoon employs early computer imaging techniques to render a wide array of forms and figures, encoded visually using pixelated patterns and animation. This focus on early computer graphics is driven by the sculptural, material and pictorial qualities of this imagery, as well as its limitations and its poetics. Sassoon’s work explores the contemplative, fantastical and projective dimensions of screen-based space, and how the digital image can express dimensions of the physical realm. While most of his output is published online, Sassoon also materializes his web-based practice into a wide range of Medias. His visual research often leads him to engage in cross-disciplinary projects in the fields of architecture, electronic music, textiles, and art. Nicolas is a founder of the collective W-A-L-L-P-A-P-E-R-S. His work has been exhibited at The Whitney Museum of American Art (US) Eyebeam (US), 319 Scholes (US), Vancouver Art Gallery (CA), Plugin ICA (CA), Contemporary Art Gallery (CA), Charles H.Scott Gallery (CA), Western Front (CA), PRETEEN Gallery (MX), Victoria & Albert Museum (UK), the Centre d’Art Bastille (FR), Arti et Amicitiae (NL), MU Eindhoven (NL) , Today Art Museum (CN), the Berlin Fashion Week (DE)) and the New-York Fashion Week (US).
