Matthew Angelo Harrison: Dark Povera Part 1

Matthew Angelo Harrison moves the behind-the-scenes production of his art out from the other side of the curtain for all to see. While many of us think of personal 3D printers as the future, Harrison hand-makes life-sized, low resolution, ‘do it yourself’ versions to facilitate his creations. Using computer aided design (CAD) files and a 3D scanner, he makes digital copies of traditional African masks and sculptures, with the intent of creating modified reproductions. Harrison’s work looks at value and dissemination, labor and consumerism. The artist has mined several private Atlanta collections of African masks that will be displayed alongside their new counterparts. These iterations are tweaked and distorted, each mask behaves like a game of telephone, exposing the imperfections in the latest versions. The further we move away from the original, the further we move from its true intention.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website