a n d r e w z a r o u : statements

"ON REPEAT" statement:

I see my studio practice as a balancing act between the physical manifestations of my core tendencies (repetition) and the spontaneous impulse for change (difference). Like the difference between climate and weather: climate being understood as the long-term trajectory of meteorological conditions, and weather as conditions of the immediate present, repetition and difference live inside and move around each other in my work. 

Always striving for consistency, but rarely working serially, my typical approach has been to engage and resolve each piece individually. This generous and open-ended attitude has engendered a body of work that could be interpreted at face value as disparate and unrelated, but the central and foundational motivations that drive the work: the impulses to collect, organize, and build have remained in tact for years.

Brooklyn, NY
2010

statement for: brooklyn – iceland – florida

at the main branch of the brooklyn public library

april 7 – june 13, 2009

My interest in the abstraction of meaning through coded information came into focus roughly a year ago when I re-discovered the numbers station radio signals from the Cold War era. For decades, covert intelligence agents used short wave radios to transmit messages internationally. As a teenager during the tail end of this era, I can recall listening, spellbound, to these signals on my short wave radio. The seemingly random, but repetitive, lists of numbers and odd tone sequences riveted me. I had no idea what they meant, and I wondered if I was doing something illegal by listening to these secret celestial transmissions. It was the very lack of meaning that kept me interested and gave resonance to my experience.

The work in this exhibition was created within the last year. These pieces contain pre-existing elements of my visual vocabulary, while at the same time incorporate highly localized and site-specific mediations on new environments.

"block party" statement:

In my attempts to articulate space, the work usually gives me the instructions. I just have to tune my head to the right frequency to hear what it needs. My marching orders usually include picking-up a paintbrush, pair of scissors, pen or pencil and make something happen. Once the first gesture is down there is something to respond to. A call and response ensues. Things can get tricky.

Brooklyn, NY

2006