Saturday, March 20, 2010

Scents & Medical Sensibility

Do you want to experience art with a different sense. Go smell the art! You'll be delighted.



Scents & Medical Sensibility
An Olfactory Art Lab: Trading in Paints for Perfumes

Curated by Medical Curator & art critic, Dr. Koan Jeff Baysa
March 1 – May 1, 2010

A show exploring the olfactory system, or how smell impacts visual perception and memory.
Carrie Paterson’s modern version of the “perfume organ” entitled, The Golden Record, 
aromatic oil-based glycerin blocks embedded in a LED grid frame.

Exhibiting Artists: Peter Hopkins, Mathias Kessler, Josee Lepage, Anne McClain,
Gayil Nalls, Carrie Paterson, Tobias Wong, Jiayi Young & Shih-Wen Young

For over 15 years, Curator Baysa has sub-specialized in the field of olfactory art and has gathered 9 of the nation's top conceptual scent artists here, transforming The Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery space into an olfactory art lab.  Before they can rely on their eyes, visitors "see" the show through their noses and interact with the works via their senses. Artist, Peter Hopkins, describes this encounter as  "shocking" the viewer to "see" beyond the visual domain. In addition to Peter Hopkins' perfume installation, Gayil Nalls has created an edible aromatic candy, which participants are encouraged to taste and experience in the space. As Nalls describes, "the interactive experience is sculptural," with layers of aromatic flavors revealing themselves as the candy artwork dissolves. Gallery Director Brooke Seidelmann welcomes you to come explore art through your nose and witness (smell) this remarkable show first-hand!

Have you ever pondered how the olfactory sense affects visual perception, or how a scent can evoke a dormant childhood memory? In this unconventional exhibition international curator, art critic and clinical allergist, Dr. Kóan Jeff Baysa, asks artists and fragrance researchers to explore how the physical self experiences and knows the world through the sense of smell.

Science tells us that messages received via smell receptors move instantly to the primal brain and trigger emotions and memories, and in this exhibition the artists manipulate smell to directly communicate with their viewer’s sensate body. Some artists, using aromatic oils and fragrances, transform the traditional gallery into an olfactory lab; others use visuals to invoke olfactory stimuli. Visitors will experience the connection between physical health and visual, gustatory, and olfactory.

The Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery
1632 U Street, NW
Washington, DC 20009
202.483.8600
www.smithfarm.com/gallery

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