statement
“I posit that sentimentality can be strategically used to access multiple world-representations, especially those located within the domestic. Essentially, world-representations are bundles of facts that are true in some world, be it fictional or non-fictional. This brings to mind multiverse theory. Because of their quietness, soft emotions are able to linger mysteriously around and between their source world-representations, gently blurring and conflating their distinctions.”
-Mr. J. P. Berger
Central to my work is the ongoing narrative of Mr. J. P. Berger, a self-trained artist philosopher living in a past era dominated by outdated pop culture tropes. Through his daily routine he constantly questions notions of domesticity and sentimentality. As a poignant, yet perplexing amalgam of pathos and awkward humor, he confounds us with his dedication to his domestic décor and routine, including morning sessions with Richard Simmon’s “Sweatin to the Oldies.”
Highly performative, my work often uses my body and this constructed alternative persona as material for building a conceptual framework. Both sympathetic and subconsciously melancholic, Mr. Berger embraces the potential of sentimentality in art and life, eventually writing a book on the topic. Through Mr. Berger, I contemplate concepts of labor, love, and the fine line between loneliness and solitude, much like artist Michael Smith’s Mike persona or McDermott & McGough 19th century living performances. In videos and photographs, I aim for the ambiguous stance and seemingly objective eye of Karrie Mae Weems. Mr. Berger’s critical approach is informed by the PBS series Sister Wendy’s Story of Painting.
My practice is broadening as Mr. Berger reaches out to the primary school classroom as he becomes increasingly interested in language acquisition theory and the evolution of meaning. He is investigating the various ways we learn to read: the graphic, syntactic, and semantic. Currently, I am developing a new video series focusing Mr. Berger’s new knowledge of using phenological awareness to evict semantics while retaining logical syntactic structures.
“People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little.”
-Jean-Jacques Rousseau