LIMITED EDITIONS
CAT. No 6 / 3'' CD on mDVD box
Yann Novak:
3 Surfaces
REVIEWS
In a heartwarming act of filial allegience, six years ago Yann Novak resuscitated the dormant Dragon's Eye Recording label founded by his father in 1989 as the audio-visual arm of his small literary house, turning it in the process into a showcase for experimental minimalism and installation music. Initially dominated by his own work, it soon expanded to include a hand-picked roster of like-minded international talents.
Dragon's Eye Recordings quickly garnered critical acclaim and among its nearly sixty editions, standout works like Jamie Drouin's A Three Month Warm Up, On the Other Side... (For L. Cohen) by Clinker and Celer's Breeze of Roses were made available to a wider audience than they might otherwise have reached. As the new year dawned, Novak temporarily deactivated the label to concentrate on his exhibition and performance art. Appropriately, this twenty-minute disc, his debut on Spanish ''sound souvenir'' imprint Reductive, has been exerpted from an exhibt.
Too many people mistake surface for superficiality in the sense of lacking meaning due to literal lack of depth, but as far back as Robert Rauschenberg's white-on-white paintings of the early 1950s, modernists have disabused this belief - John Cage called them ''landing strips for dust, light and shadow''. Novak's 3 Surfaces is loyal to this traditon, exploring the play of light on surface and hence mood by adjusting the dimensions and natural lighting of his site - a humble stairwell in the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena - with fabric-covered scrims. The physical edition even includes a swatch.
Adding ''compositional elements'' more suitable to home listening, Novak transmits the dry, shimmering heat, complete with subtle rattlesnake hiss, of his Californian surroundings, while a peculiar synaesthesia somehow sees powder blues shifting into pinks with the occasional surge of yellow, the beautiful barrens of impossible landscapes only possible to visit through sound.
As those familiar with Novak's previous work and curation will know, Novak's minimalism contains multitudes, to the point of almost being a mirage. To anyone unfamiliar, this would be a very good place to start.
Stephen Fruitman
(www.cyclicdefrost.com)
INFO
1.
3 Surfaces
(20'00'')
ARTIST NOTE
Excerpt from the sound and light installation
3 Surfaces
. 4 Ch. Audio installation and scrims. Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena CA. 2011
CD NOTE
3 Surfaces is a site specific sound and light installation for the main stairwell of the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena. The piece incorporates the unique sounds, natural light, and architectural details of the space as primary materials. The sound piece is formed using field recordings of the space itself, captured during peak activity hours.
Using digital filtering and processing, the recordings are transformed into a subtle environmental ''tint'' to alter how the audience perceives the space. The space is physically altered using scrims to create 3 new surfaces above the stairwell, which allow for the natural light to be filtered through while suggesting a more private, intimate experience. 3 Surfaces is presented here in stereo with some compositional elements added to make it more suitable for home listening. Curated by Sinead Finnerty-Pyne.
ARTIST BIO
Yann Novak (b. 1979 Madison, WI) is a sound, video and installation artist living and working in Los Angeles. His work utilizes different forms of digital documentation as a point of departure. Through the digital manipulation of these sound and image files, his works serve as a translation from documents of personal experiences into an open ended autobiographical narrative. By choosing subject matter that is also relatable to the audience, Novak's work creates a hybrid state, balancing between his own personal history and that of the audience. Novak has presented his installation work through solo exhibitions at 323 Projects (CA), Armory Center for the Arts (CA), Las Cienegas Projects (CA), Lawrimore Project (WA), Soundfjord (London, UK) and in two person exhibitions at the Henry Art Gallery (WA), Post (CA) and Soil Art Gallery (WA). His sound works and scores have been presented internationally as part of multiple group exhibitions and diffusions at venues and events including the American Academy in Rome (Rome, Italy), Aqua Art Miami (FL), File Hipersonica (Brazil), London International Festival of Exploratory Music (London, UK), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (CA), Suyama Space (WA), TBA Festival (OR), Western Bridge (WA) and others. Novak's solo and collaborative sound works have been published on 14 CD and CD-R releases on such labels as Dragon's Eye Recordings (CA), Hibernate Recordings (United Kingdom), Infrequency Editions (Canada), Koyuki (Italy), LINE (DC) and White.Line Editions (United Kingdom). His sound works have also appeared on 17 international sound art and electronic music compilations on labels such as Cronica (Portugal), Mandorla (Mexico), Untitled & After (CA), The Wire (United Kingdom) and others.
Reference:
www.yannnovak.com
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