Curators remark for process and meta-pro

Curators Remark for Process and Meta-Process

Frank Gillette's compositional elements are natural processes—juxtapositions of biological, ecological and technological systems. His work explores the aesthetics of these processes and the references between them.

The effects and influences of advanced communication technology are becoming increasingly important to the artist as well as the television-oriented public. Although Gillette's work emerges from the interface between cybernetics and natural systems, it remains accessible, that is, it provides a complex experience in a complex form but is still concerned with the classical aesthetic. It is work which connects ecological principles and key contemporary information systems.

Implicit in Gillette's thinking is the belief that the technology man has used to extend his dominance over nature has been so successful that it threatens to virtually destroy him and his environment. If man is to survive, he is impelled to develop ways to define technology in terms of the environment, rather than impose preconceived concepts of technology upon nature. The work suggests that man reunify his concepts of nature with his concepts of technology and that he reconceive them as being two parts of the same whole. Alternatives such asthese need to be perceived, explored and experienced.

The function of the artist is to create new metaphors, new references to reality which re-relate man, his environment (nature) and his extensions (technology) so as to create and evolve new values and perspectives. As Gillette juxtaposes biological, ecological and technological systems and their processes, he both redefines television and places these processes within the realm of aesthetics.

Judson Rosebush

Everson Museum of Art / May 19 - June 18 1973