Andrew James Paterson

AGO: What was the inspiration for this artwork or series? 
Paterson: Agora Phobia is a videotape assembled from downloaded images, accompanied by a musical drone and a series of voice-overs. The images are of public crime scenes, meteorological disasters, natural eruptions, and others. Many of the downloaded images have been further processed, suggesting paintings as much as manipulated photographs. There is also a series of concrete poetry drawings which have been digitally processes and therefore abstracted. The voice-overs are read by performance artist Calla Durose-Moya as if they are found texts. After the final voice-over, my voice is heard singing against the musical drone. All these texts refer to the tyranny of the weather, to unsavory political climates, to spatial and temporal dislocation, and to chemically-distorted perceptions. The final song is addressed to an unnamed correspondent, suggesting perhaps friends who have not kept contact. The videotape’s title is apt…referring to what is fear of outdoors and of outside spaces. This stalemate situation is hardly atypical of individuals who prefer to stay indoors as the threat of foul weather and public violence has become all too omnipresent. Agora Phobia has commonalities with my other works that use language as image, but it breaks with earlier works by utilizing voice-over commentary yet problematizing authorial perspective by means of having another individual’s voice as the primary voice-over. Agora Phobia experiments with relationships between speaker and image, as well as permitting different associations with these images. 

Lists and capitals is composed of text and downloaded images. I list ten objects or people without indicating why...I leave it up to the reader or viewer to make their associations as to why I chose these groupings of ten. I juxtapose these lists with images of ten high-profile capital cities. These are places where stuff happens...some of them are places I would like to be instead of at home. Some of them I have no desire whatever to visit. I also name people and places in the lower cases rather than preferred upper cases. 

Lists and capitals may or may not develop into a video art piece, with text as image and processed public images. This is not unlike recent work of mine such as AgoraPhobia (2018) and Framing Device (2019). I juxtapose these lists with images of ten high-profile capital cities. These are places where stuff happens...some of them are places I would like to be instead of at home. Some of them I have no desire whatever to visit.

AGO: Tell us about a place or space where you most love making your work? 
Paterson: I usually like making work on my laptop computer but right now I've been having some field problem which is annoying me. I miss being able to rent a computer with Final Cut Pro 7 at Trinity Video.

AGO: Are you in dialogue with any other artists or creative peers about your practice? If so, how does this dialogue feed your work?
Paterson: I do have friends in the art world who I keep in touch with but during this pandemic I haven't been socializing much with art friends and discussing current projects. I also wonder when this pandemic will pass over or through and what life will be like after. I doubt that it will be the same as it was before