Shaper of God
Shaper of God
American Artist
American Artist
In a sculpture and video installation entitled Shaper of God, American Artist connects the life and work of Octavia E. Butler to the migration of Black Americans to California, the epicenter of the science fiction movement, and the rocket science industry local to Altadena where Butler and American Artist were born and raised. American Artist’s sculptures often reference quotidian objects that construct social space—like desks, chairs, walls, and industrial tools—but create critical dialogue through inversions of their intent and purpose. Works in Shaper of God will explore what seepages, contaminations, and spurs of thought resonated between Butler and her space-adjacent surroundings at such a formative age. The project also includes an interactive web-based artwork which allows users to navigate color fields and enter portals to uncover seemingly disparate facts about Butler, Black migration, science fiction, and rocket science, similar to playing an 8-bit video game.
Digital Media, Sculpture, Technology, Visual Arts
2022
About American Artist
Queens, NY
American Artist makes thought experiments that mine the history of technology, race and knowledge production, beginning with their legal name change in 2013. Their artwork primarily takes the form of sculpture, software and video.
Artist is a recipient of the 2024 Trellis Art Fund and the New York City Artadia Award. They are a grantee of Creative Capital and the Herb Alpert Award in Visual Art. They are a former resident of Smack Mellon, Red Bull Arts Detroit, Abrons Art Center, Recess, EYEBEAM, Pioneer Works and the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program. They have exhibited at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Studio Museum in Harlem, Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland and the Nam June Paik Art Center, Seoul. Their work has been featured in The New York Times, Cultured, Artforum and Art in America. Artist is on the board of the School for Poetic Computation and is a faculty at the Yale School of Art.
American Artist makes thought experiments that mine the history of technology, race and knowledge production, beginning with their legal name change in 2013. Their artwork primarily takes the form of sculpture, software and video. Artist is a recipient of the 2024 Trellis Art Fund and the New York City Artadia Award. They are a grantee of Creative Capital and the Herb Alpert Award in Visual Art. They are a former resident of Smack Mellon, Red Bull Arts Detroit, Abrons Art Center, Recess, EYEBEAM, Pioneer Works and the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program. They have exhibited at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Studio Museum in Harlem, Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland and the Nam June Paik Art Center, Seoul. Their work has been featured in The New York Times, Cultured, Artforum and Art in America. Artist is on the board of the School for Poetic Computation and is a faculty at the Yale School of Art.