BLUR SMACK/JUGGERNAUT

Bayard & Collins Statement

The initial idea for this exhibit came with the realization that two separate series we were developing at the same time that dealt with a similar theme: the sense one has in the face of an overwhelming system seemingly too large to change or to interact with in any meaningful way.

Over the next two years, the work expanded individually and in collaboration into what seemed at times, an unmanageable mess: at other times, a fine-tuned machine, whether we were in the driver’s seat, or letting synchronistic events take the wheel.

The unspoken question throughout the making of this work was looking at the wisdom of blindly bowing to systems of government, industry, science, religion and other social constructs. The large scale of these works is meant to point out a relationship between participant and such systems in order to rethink priorities. We have no answers to offer other than to point out that the act of investigating the value of these systems might result in change, or in consciously recommitting allegiance to institutions of power as they currently exist.

Working in collaboration with another artist was the manifestation of dealing with the unknown source of creative expression. The overwhelming and chaotic mess left in the wake of Juggernaut became a metaphor for our working process, or vice versa.

We thought we knew what we were doing.

Exhibition Statement

Juggernaut: any overpowering and terrible force; any idea, custom, or loyalty demanding blind devotion or terrible sacrifice; an incarnation of the Hindu God Vishnu; also, Jagannath.

The exhibition was a collaboration of mixed media paintings, laser monoprints, found objects and sculpture describing the overwhelming and chaotic mess left in the wake of Juggernaut. In a frantic mix of visual imagery, the wisdom of blindly bowing to systems of government, industry, science, religion and other social constructs is brought into question. The large scale of these works is meant to point out our relationship to such systems in order to rethink our priorities. Although no answers are offered, the act of investigating the value of these systems might result in change, or in consciously recommitting allegiance to our institutions of power.

In the exhibit BLUR SMACK/JUGGERNAUT, artists John Collins and Bruce Bayard combined separate series of works into a singular observation of an overwhelming polity gone haywire. These artworks comment on the importance of individual action and on the effects of a system run by agents prone to abuse power.

BLUR SMACK is a series of color laser monoprints by artist J. Collins. The Prints are enlarged and manipulated halftones culled from recent newspapers. Defaced images of politicians, convicts and skinheads present a scenario of an unraveling social fabric, a system that dehumanizes and disenfranchises the individual. In the act of graphic sabotage, the artist takes on those in power, counterattacking pandemonium with direct hits. BLUR SMACK, then, is a reaction to an obscene and insidious assault; one individual refusing to be taken out of the picture in spite of incredible odds to the contrary.

Blind devotion and sacrifice to an abusive force are the subject of the series JUGGERNAUT by artist B. Bayard. Devotees to Jagannath, an incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu, throw themselves beneath the idol’s tremendous wheels and are crushed. Large-scale encaustic paintings with images of blurred eye charts, spinal columns, cogs and moon walks give a direct, overwhelming sense of chaotic and frantic power. In the accompanying landscapes, however, the mayhem left in the wake of JUGGERNAUT gives way to new possibilities, tenuous as they may be, of a balanced system respectful to the individual.

BLUR SMACK/JUGGERNAUT reveals the value of bold and precise acts in the face of a trampling god.

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