I saw intermedia artist Gail Wight speak last week. She devoted 2.5 hours to talking to undergrad art and intermedia students, and was really engaging. Her work deals a lot with science, humanity, animals, sounds, and humor. I think I'm particularly struck by the humor in her work -- she has a really disarming way of asking honest, simple, yet funny artistic questions without being ironic or sarcastic.
Examples of her work include making a tiny set for the opera "La Traviata" and invited crickets to perform it ("traviata" means "tramp" and crickets are one of many species known as "supertramps", who are quick to adapt and multiply in new surroundings but have trouble competing with other adaptive species. Humans are another supertramp species).
One of my favorite pieces of hers is "School of Evolution," a performance piece in which she spent a full day lecturing to the fish in the fish pond at the SF Art Institute about science, marine biology and evolution -- literally holding a lecture for the fish, based on classic science texts. The day-long seminar ended in a lecture on "conscious evolution and possibilities for evolving out of the fish pond."
Wight has done a lot of work with scientists and is particularly interested in mice and butterflies, two species whose destinies are or have been so intimately linked with humans because of their uses in science. (The butterflies pictured here are huge, with the pins holding them to the wall about 18 inches long). Some of her work is hilarious and whimsical; some is devastatingly touching; all is really intelligent. Rather than make strident political statements, however, Wight approaches her subjects in a way that is honestly asking questions, and honestly open to whatever the answers might be - even if they're not the answers she's expecting.
She used to teach at Mills and now is at Stanford; she had a piece in the show "We Interrupt Your Program" last year at the Mills museum. After she presented her work, Wight spent about an hour dispensing really practical advice for young artists about jobs, commercial galleries (she hates them), grants, statements, portfolios, press packets, and other super useful info. I adore her work and really enjoyed the talk -- she's so modest and practical-- and can't stop telling my friends about it.
Her website is also really well-crafted:
www.notochord.com
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