Blaque Lyte Richmo'
curated by Chris Kerr & Paul Nudd

OPENING at ADA GALLERY
SATURDAY JUNE 9, 2012
6-9PM

ADA - 228 W.Broad St. Richmond, Va. 23220 - 804.644.0100

Chris Kerr & Paul Nudd
Curators

STATEMENT & RATIONALE

Statement: The term "black light" makes no sense; like all pure abstractions, it escapes possibilty. It's a beautiful term, though - contradictory and wonderfully descriptive. A black light's desired result is the creation of an altered perceptual environment. The recreational effects of black light are well known: makeshift dorm room trip incubators, Jimi Hendrix and Iron Maiden posters, stoner wallpaper, goopy body-paint gyration parties, raves, Jr. High dances, Halloween, etc. Other uses are also weird and gushy. In forensics, they are used to scour a dubious location for semen, blood and other murderous delights. In backyards, they are instrumental in zapping bugs. Sometimes, just looking at someone's teeth and eyes are enough to become a believer!

It would be nice to revive this seemingly dead and trivial medium. The possibilities seem interesting. What happens when you optically alter an environment and fill it with art work that attempts to do the same thing? In Blaque Lyte, we are recontextualizing various forms of contemporary visual art in an attempt to transcend the mere novelty and self-indulgent nature of traditional black light props. From top to bottom, our goal is to create an overwhelming and visually jarring environment, one that is essential in offering the viewer an exclusive experience, namely a weird and hyper-sensitized orgy of inversely illuminated odd-ball artworks . We are not attempting to recreate a haunted house through a fog of juvenile nostalgia. We feel we can offer a doubly altered series of optical rifts. All the work in Blaque Lyte will be specifically made to be seen under these unconventional and experimental conditions.