No Absolutes
Contemporary Art from the Region
October 8, 2000 - January 7, 2001
Catalogue Essay -Jon Haddock
Jon Haddock
The dissembling and rearranging of traditional power structures in today's
age of Internet and computer hacker culture is the subject addressed in
Jon Haddock's digital drawing series, Screenshots. These drawings
are executed in a video game-style, isometric perspective derived through
the use of Photoshop, a photo-editing software program. By their very
nature, they question the legal constraints imposed by copyright law upon
free availability of information.
The subject of each drawing is an image that has become part of our cultural heritage, an historical legacy to which, by all rights, there should be complete and total access. Haddock mixes actual events, such as the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King and Wang Weilin's protest in front of an army tank at Tien-an Men Square, with fictional cinematic events, including the death of Fredo in The Godfather: Part II and the hill top scene from The Sound of Music. As Haddock states, "These events -- if not the images themselves -- belong to us because their impact is so important to who we are.
"The question then arises: if these images belong to us, why are we not free to print and use them at will? "Stealing," then manipulating the originals, the artist exploits the familiarity and comfort these images evoke, simultaneously presenting a wholly different perspective or "view" of each event. By cyber-bootlegging these well-known and easily recognizable icons, Haddock takes the power out of the concept of intellectual ownership and possession, returning control of these historical moments to the individual. In doing so, he empowers the viewer with the same type of individual control one may feel while playing computer games such as "The Sims" or "Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.
"Ironically, Haddock's own original drawings are actually pure computer images accessible on the Internet for all to view. However, in his Arizona State University Art Museum exhibition, the artist has made the conscious decision to translate these electronically manipulated works into a series of limited edition digital C-prints that can be displayed and viewed in a more traditional gallery setting. In doing so, he questions his own stance as to free accessibility of information, as well as issues of commodification and ownership.
John D. Spiak
Curatorial Museum Specialist
Arizona State University Art Museum
Return to the No Absolutes exhibition
Screenshots, a project by Jon Haddock for the exhibition No Absolutes
For more information contact John Spiak at spiak@asu.edu.
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