LIVING SPACE

EXHIBITED AT www.gallerythe.org
May 1 - June 25, 2001
work by: James Antonie and Jill Bliss   

   
Both artists are interested in utopian theories, 
using diagrams, charts and mixed media to demonstrate 
social conditions.

The viewer  feels like a giant peering into James 
Antonie's micro galleries. He has built what appear 
to be miniature art galleries complete with lighting 
and parquet floors. Upon closer inspection there are 
noticeable incongruities; a cut out figure looks at 
a magnified image of a dust mite hanging next to a 
well known Piet Mondrian reproduction. The 
relationships between the micro/macro and 
miniaturization in art and science is what James 
Antonie is investigating.

With detailed charts as guides, Jill Bliss inhabits 
the micro/macrocosm with human beings. Imagine 
yourself living inside a plant the size of a 
building. Objects that are commonly relative in 
scale are suddenly inverted, posing the question 
"Why not use natural structures, plants, as 
dwelling spaces?" 

While Jill Bliss enlarges plants to accommodate 
life-size humans complete with their accouterments, 
James Antonie miniaturizes his environments and 
populates them.