Performing in the gallery, “New Social Contract” is a performance in which the artist explores language and paralanguage, that is, both the spoken and gestural aspects of human communication.
Weaned in the Windansea of La Jolla, California a product of boarding schools and graduating from Army and Navy Academy. JOHN G BOEHME’S (US|CANADA) early art practice included painting, sculpture, performance, video and digital technology, installation and photography. Boehme describes recent work as “trans-disciplinary” often employing performance, video, audio and objects in a number pieces simultaneously, Boehme is not constrained to any particular creative mode and therefore utilizes integrated approaches to realize the work. John continues to have exhibitions, screenings and participate festivals across Canada, the Americas, Australia, United Kingdom, Europe and China. John is a continuing faculty in the Visual Arts Department at Camosun College.
Artist Statement:
What interests me is the ongoing reformulation of a set of key interests. These interests are drawn from my observations of Western society’s less considered compulsions. Exploring the performance of gender, specifically masculinity, the valorization of labor, the pursuit of leisure, and the marshalling of amity. I explore language and paralanguage, that is, both the spoken and gestural aspects of human communication.
Live artwork presents a direct relationship with material, with action and process, with human interaction, as I understand it. Physical involvement is the most embodied way in which to create meaning. Through durational works both the artist and the audience gain access to the experience uniquely available through such commitment. This is of course the archetypal modality of ‘performance art’, an experience that unfolds through an extended period of time. Nothing can replace that learning, that specific duration of being. Although there is no alternative to the durational aspect of performance per se, I remain interested in the question of representation of performance. The very clear and obvious problem of making the ephemeral available to a larger audience at a different time. Using video to “reconstruct” an event makes publication and discourse possible. Despite its material concerns I believe that art is rendered ultimately in the social domain.
With regard to multi-disciplinary works, I prefer the alternative term “trans-disciplinary”, as it refers to integration between media, as opposed to, say, a sequential use of different forms. For instance, I employ performance, video, audio and objects simultaneously in a number of my pieces. I am not constrained to any particular mode; rather, I utilize integrated approaches within my practice.
Sponsored by
Camosun College | Canada Council for the Arts | British Columbia Arts Council
