Circles – Zine with CD of experimental video work
Circles
: Gerome Soriano
“Art is either plagiarism or revolution.” ― Marcel Duchamp
In Circles, artist Gerome Soriano shows the latest from the series of videos and zine that has been in development since 2017. The hypnotic circle video were assembled and edited from still images that were captured in between travelling and exploring the city. The circular shape became the formal focus of the video mimicking the doldrums of everyday life and a way to create with a limited amount of time. Gerome’s penchant for meditation led him to become a keen observer of everyday life, seeing beauty on otherwise mundane objects. What started out as an outgrowth to observation became a continuing series that has resulted to 4 video art and a few that are still works in progress. The looping video is a metaphor for the never ending cycle of everyday life and the routine that we all go through to survive life. The ongoing series has proven to be ripe in potential that has extended to the print media that will also be shown side by side in the show.
Opining on the same concerns, Gerome recreates the same looping energy in print format resulting to a highly engaging zine that don’t share the normal expected format of the usual zine. The circle zine borrows the same visual language with its video brethren but with a more ironic take on the shape of circle. Although the settings on the images are predominantly urban the series has the potential to expand to different places and express different languages using the same circular format. The extension of the work in the zine format shares the ethos of artists like Takashi Murakami, Dex Fernandez, and Mark Salvatus to transgress art to merchandise in order for the art to reflect and fuse with the everyday life. Echoing the optical art of the 60’s Gerome was able to bring the same energy of the movement but with contemporary materials and concern.
The practice of creating art in a limited space and time appeals to artists and viewers alike as it creates a kinship that almost everyone shares, the lack of time. In this day and age were everyone is on the go and everyone is too busy to stop, Gerome invites us to take a closer look at what we see every day, to pause and enjoy life more. The focus on everyday life and everyday objects harkens back to Duchamp and the constant questioning of what is art. Duchamp much like Gerome fell in love with the rhythm of the rotating circular object, creating calm amidst the chaos of life.
text by Harvey A Vasquez
vov website link
