Ted Victoria: INFESTATION
October 31 to December 20, 2009
Harried homeowners may be calling upon pest control specialists to remove unwanted visitors, but The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum is pleased to introduce the latest Main Street Sculpture Project, INFESTATION, which allows legions of sea monkeys to swim in its historic administration building!
American artist Ted Victoria is well known for haunting works that use projected light to create animated illusions of reality. Referencing the early history of projected images, such as shadow plays and magic lanterns, his installations have an aura of uncanny believability that is an antidote to the slick overproduction found in much contemporary film and video.
Utilizing lenses and homemade projectors, Victoria creates unforgettable images that are inseparable from his modest and low-tech means of production. For the Main Street Sculpture Project, Victoria will be transforming the entire façade of The Aldrich’s 200-year old administration building into an illusionary aquarium. Every night at dusk, the building, from first floor to attic, will seem to be filled with huge, swimming, live brine shrimp, projected on the inside of each window.
The project will debut on Halloween night, when Ridgefield’s Main Street comes alive with thousands of costumed children and adults. INFESTATION will be on view every day from dusk to 10 pm.
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Ted Victoria: INFESTATION
Ted Victoria, Installation rendering for The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, 2009 Courtesy of the artist and Schroeder Romero Gallery, New York
Ted Victoria: INFESTATION
Ted Victoria, Installation rendering for The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, 2009 Courtesy of the artist and Schroeder Romero Gallery, New York
Ted Victoria: INFESTATION
Projector built and used by artist Ted Victoria Courtesy of the artist
The Artist: Ted Victoria, born in 1944 in Riverhead, NY, received his MFA in painting from Rutgers University. He is primarily known for wall pieces that incorporate the use of a lens light system similar to the camera obscura thought to be used by artists such as Vermeer and da Vinci. Actual objects are projected onto a surface to create a “live” picture. His work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally in venues such as Musée d'Orsay, Paris; Galerie Bonnier, Geneva; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Butler Institute, Youngstown, OH; and Hollis Taggart Galleries, New York. Victoria is represented by Schroeder Romero Gallery, New York, and more of his work can be seen on tedvictoria.com.
Museum funding provided, in part, by the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Special thanks to the opening weekend event sponsors: Collyer Catering, Ridgefield Magazine, HSBC Bank, WSHU Public Radio, and the Harry Zarin Fund.
Ted Victoria, INFESTATION (installation rendering for The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum), 2009
Courtesy of the artist and Schroeder Romero Gallery, New York
