Charles Atlas
Archive
2019
Geometry of Thought
—
Archive
2019
About the Work
Leading figure in film and video artist Charles Atlas created a site-specific projection for ART on THE MART, titled Geometry of Thought. The work, which was approximately an eight-minute piece broken down into one-minute chapters, featured a characteristic combination of abstract shapes and numerals. Chapters began with a splash of color that started at the base of THE MART’s façade and rose to the top of the turrets, animating and exploring the structure and architecture of one of the most iconic buildings in Chicago.
About the Artist
Charles Atlas has been a pioneering figure in film and video for over four decades. Atlas has extended the limits of his medium, forging new territory in a far-reaching range of genres, stylistic approaches, and techniques. Throughout his production, the artist has consistently fostered collaborative relationships, working intimately with such artists and performers as Leigh Bowery, Michael Clark, Douglas Dunn, Marina Abramovic, Yvonne Rainer, Mika Tajima/New Humans, Antony and the Johnsons, and most notably Merce Cunningham, for whom he served as in-house videographer for a decade from the early 1970s through 1983; their close working relationship continued until Cunningham’s death in 2009.
“I am very excited to be working with ART on THE MART on my first public art commission. In my recent installation work I have been working at a large scale, but never at nearly the scale of the Chicago piece, which is inspired by and in response to the architecture of the façade of THE MART. The projection represents a continuation of a tendency of some of my recent video work towards pure color and abstraction.”