Bullet (p)roof • artificial interference
Curated by Kio Griffith + Bryan Ida

November 19th - January 7th, 2016
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 19th, 5 - 8pm

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George Billis Gallery is pleased to present Bullet (p)roof • artificial interference, a group show curated by Kio Griffith + Bryan Ida, featuring new sculpture, prints, and installation work by Asae Soya, Akihiro Yasugi, Nobuki Mizumoto, Naohiko Onodera, and Sakiko Ohba. The exhibition runs from November 19 to January 7 with an opening reception on November 19th from 5-8pm.

"Between manmade and machine made, there are virtues that must be compared to the disadvantages in order to consider what materials are most conducive to the making process and how technology can influence our object making research environments. The importance of distinguishing between the making of a tool and the making of an interface is either performing a specific physical task or producing an interactive environment capable of facilitating a performance that can manifest many forms – the use of the technological body and mind, and the technology of machines. 

"This philosophy of dominating the material world is portentous. It replaces material knowledge, that is, knowledge that is derived from interacting with and learning the material properties of the physical world, with a fictitious imaginary assumption as to how things are made. Of course, this is ironic because the more we move away from interacting with the tactile, tangible, physical world, the less capable we will become of knowing and mastering ‘tacit knowledge’ and disengage from the natural, sustainable, co-generative and cooperative harmonious way.

"These five contemporary artists from Japan investigate the mediation between user and physical materials through scale, color, accuracy and context, transposing the macro to the micro and injecting it vice versa – adapting the sense of touch to feel scalar shifts that the body cannot accomplish on its own – upscaling of human strength tho handle hard materials and downscaling of the human touch sense to dial in and sensitively feel the materials. The title, “Bullet (p)roof • artificial interference,”  is an analogy of how the world has become a progressively designed dogma under a blue sky of global security that cannot guarantee our livelihood or well being in an overcapacitated informational labyrinth." 
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- curator statement, Kio Griffith

Kio Griffith is an interdisciplinary visual/sound artist, curator and editor producing diverse trajectory projects between the U.S. and Japan. His work includes drawing, painting, sound, video, performance, electronics, language, sculpture and installation. He has exhibited in Europe, Asia and the U.S.A. and has performed, collaborated or curated various musicians and contemporary artists, dancers and designers in galleries, museums, clubs and alternative spaces, locally and internationally. His current projects include project director at TYPE (Tokyo+Yokohama Projects Exchange), curator and development director at ARTRA, associate editor at Fabrik and Art Bridge (Tokyo), art director at Angel City Jazz Festival and has designed over 300 album jackets. Griffith was recently invited to exhibit in the 2016 Aichi Trienniale.




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George Billis Gallery opened its second location in the Culver City area of Los Angeles in 2004 and marks its 18th year in the Chelsea arts district in New York City. George Billis shows work by both emerging and established artists. For more information please contact the gallery at:

2716 S. La Cienega Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90034
T: 310-838-3685
F: 310-838-3438
email: la@georgebillis.com
www.georgebillis.com