JUSTIN RIVENBARK | JULY 11 - AUGUST 17, 2024

Curatorial Statement

In today’s technology-driven world, almost everything is digitalized. AI, computers, and digital tools do not possess self-awareness. Alongside the ongoing debate over whether digital art is real art, Justin Rivenbark’s alternative Rootist Art Theory suggests that human consciousness plays a major role in the creative process, regardless of artistic talent, creativity, or formal training. Rootism calls individual self-awareness in the creation of art. Symbolism is absent from Rivenbark’s work, replaced by a visual map of the artist’s consciousness. Justin’s work speaks to the audience without language, and can seem as if the viewer is seeing everything and nothing at once. The process of Rootist art requires the creator to make the decision at the moment, depending then on the viewer's willingness to perceive. Rootist art aims not to express feelings, but rather the experience of feeling itself. Simply put, this is creation without preconceptions, and ultimately the transmission of phenomenal information into visual expression. 

This exhibition presents a challenge to its viewers: is it possible to decipher what we see in human consciousness, does our consciousness communicate with us, and the original question of what counts as real art?