JOHN GREER
JOHN GREER

Alluding to Illusion, 2008

Forum Gallery, Dallas, TX USA

“This space and that space”- in the 1969 two-dimensional transparent, schematic, elastic renderings of paper airplanes I described two types of spaces as ”this space” and “that space”. The picture plane is the threshold or boundary between these points of perceptions. Through the rendering of the airplanes the wall plain becomes the picture plain, because the airplanes can be perceptually flipped; they appear to be going into, or coming out from, either point of view is up to you. The surface of a mirror is also like the picture plain. The surface is the threshold between “this space” and “that space”. The space as seen in the mirror is called virtual space because it is unattainable, it is behind the picture plain, it cannot be touched or physically grasped, it is non-confirmable. It is an illusion even if it has a corresponding physical counterpart. It is imagined space, “that space”. “This space” is the space where things can be grasped, physical body space, where the mind inhabits the body, where one is in the world.

Allusion - to pretend, to fool the mind, one’s own, or another’s. For instance take a very good contemporary copy of a Louis 14th chair or an entire Chateau available, say, in Dallas Texas. Does the person who acquires this chair or the Chateau want them to appear genuine or do they themselves desire to be re-evaluated? These objects become both, signs as well as symbols. They are the sign of a fulfilled desire and a symbol of power and status. Allusion has implications of value. However the Chateau in Dallas or the chair cannot be mistaken as genuine French historic objects, they become high kitsch. Is this a sign of genuine delusion or will irony be used as a fallback position? Irony is very often used as a sign for in-the-know and thus above-the-fray and this itself is another sign of the desire for re-evaluation.

There is a great desire to live safely behind the picture plane, a life of illusion and self-delusion. Remember YOU are the control tower of YOUR life; will it be “this space” or “that space”?

 

"Take off, little Boy!", 2007
Polystyrene, epoxy, Texas sand;
48" x 39" x 2" (122 x 99 x 5 cm)

"Letting go 2", 2007
Polystyrene, Aluminum foil;
36" x 84" x 14" ( 91 x 213 x 35.5 cm)

"Kardinal Points (Reflecting Projections)", 2007
Polystyrene
Each figure 71" x 27" x 8" (180 x 69 x 20 cm)
Each Silhouette 71" x 27" (180 x 69 cm)

"Airplanes: This space, That space and Here!"
Dressmakers elastic, variable dimensions

"Cosmic Encounter", 2007
Black Polystyrene, two elements, each 43" x 26"

You can contact me directly here:

 john@artistjohngreer.com

Bus Shelter in Halifax with retroActive poster!
Thinking Back to Gertrude and Henrie, 2015
Installation View retroActive with Threshold, 2015; Civilization, 1990/91; PaperMoney, 2012
Wait of Water by John Greer, 2014 Bay of Fundy Detail of Wait of Water, October 9th, 2014; retroActive tied up, tide down, looking back across the bay where the piece was first realized in 1972
National Gallery of Canada : THE PROUST QUESTIONNAIRE
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