yourarthere.net

5 in x 3 in Copper engraving 2010

Goatmother Industrial is an art producing entity, currently based in Providence, Rhode Island. Established in 2003, it serves as an identifying moniker for numerous art and sound related activities by artist Mark Rice. What follows is an artist statement for the most recent project by Goatmother Industrial. The religious imagery of western art is initially idiosyncratic, and then defiantly esoteric. These religious images and those from many other cultures generate and continue to emit an engrossing potential energy. The possibility of inexhaustible mystery through the power of personal and cultural symbols is at the core of my work. The current project is to fabricate a hand-printed and hand-bound book. This narrative is about the creation of a religious faith in the shadow of apocalypse. Renaissance engraving, pop culture, autobiographical accounts, and science fiction form the inspirations for this parafictional allegory to the present It is specifically geared to discuss the inversely proportionate relationship of clear communication to anagogical reverence, exclusivity and subjectivity of personal symbols, the inherit entropy in their documentation, myth versus code, and the quality of language to both inform and exclude. The illustrations will be produced by means of copper and wood engraving. Inspired by classic ancient texts, such as the Nuremberg Chronicle and the Hypnerotomachi Poliphili, this work recalls a time when books were powerful yet enigmatic. The illustrations are accompanied by a text called Rungish. Rungish is a written dialect created for those with a distrust of language’s inherent ability to disseminate and demystify. It seeks a slower and more reflective read as a method of reestablishing trust in the mutual responsibilities of communication for both artist and viewer.

Goatmother Industrial is an art producing entity, currently based in Providence, Rhode Island. Established in 2003, it ...