0100101110101101.

org
United We Stand, 2005
Digital poster and light-box frame
Courtesy of Postmasters Gallery, New York, and
the artists

The Spanish team of Eva and Franco Mattes

who work under the name
0100101110101101.org have earned an
international reputation as art world
provocateurs. They seek to upend traditional
notions of art and the viewing experience by
dissolving the strict boundaries between formal
institutions such as museums and immediate,
real-world experiences. United We Stand is a
full-fledged advertising campaign for a
Hollywood-style action movie that exists only in
the artists’s imagination. The artists use the
concept of “viral marketing” to insert their
artwork in the popular imagination. The
fictitious project’s posters and advertisements
flow seamlessly into the daily flood of
information and images.

By appropriating the glamour and seductive

qualities represented by actors such as
Penelope Cruz and Ewan McGregor,
0100101110101101.org hopes to prompt
questions about the fleeting nature of celebrity
and the rapidly changing sense of European
unity. Franco Mattes explains the plot of the
movie: “The screenplay of the movie is about
the European president—a very handsome and
charming guy—who immediately calls for a
task force: five highly-trained specialists known
as the German, the Italian, the Spanish, and
the French guy. This task force has the mission
to avoid the global war between China and the
USA without brutal force. European Style!”
assume vivid astro focus
Pills & Cigarettes, 2004
Single channel video, 15 minutes
No. 5 from an edition of 10

Collection of Ben and Aileen Krohn

assume vivid astro focus

Freebird, 2002
Single channel video, 4 minutes
No. 4 from an edition of 10

Collection of Ben and Aileen Krohn

The two videos are played in a continuous loop.

The music for Pills & Cigarettes is Walking on
Thin Ice, sung by Yoko Ono, and the music for
Freebird is an adaptation of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s
Freebird.
“Our strategy is pleasure—we want to give the
people visiting the museum a taste of their own
pleasure,” declares the collaborative team
known as assume vivid astro focus (avaf). This
goal aligns avaf with the imagery of ukiyo-e
Japanese woodblock prints. Although separated
by more than a century and vast cultural
differences, both the Japanese prints and the
avaf video highlight the feelings, images, and
pleasures of their respective contemporary
worlds. They are also connected by a belief that
the pleasures are fleeting and must be enjoyed
before they disappear.

avaf churns through imagery from all cultures

and time periods and creates spectacularly
colored and vibrantly exuberant work. The
group has developed a profound ability to
celebrate the joyous aspects of the world while
simultaneously subverting culturally engrained
notions as diverse as “fine art” and gender
norms. They link these images and ideas
through groovy sound, a simple graphic look,
and breathtaking editing. Their work seeks to
unify the visual experience and impact of dance
clubs, graffiti street culture, Asian animation,
and strains of optimism from 1970s popular
culture.
Iris Bodemer (born Paderborn, Germany,
1970)
Untitled, 2000
Gold, tourmaline, smokey quartz, rubber, wool

Collection of Sharon M. Campbell

Iris Bodemer has earned a reputation for her

highly refined and sophisticated works that are
at the forefront of new European design. Her
works challenge traditional notions of
preciousness and beauty by incorporating
semi-precious gemstones and pearls with both
traditional metal settings and unexpectedly
simple knots. Bodemer approaches each of her
neckpieces as a drawing or sketch. She
carefully composes her works to create a
dynamic sense of symmetry on the basis of
textures, forms, and visual impact.
Lola Brooks (born Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1969)
Rose Cut Neckpiece, 2006
Stainless steel, 18 karat gold, rose-cut smoky
quartz

Courtesy of Sienna Gallery, Lenox,

Massachusetts, and the artist

Lola Brooks views her work as an effort to

understand how people use jewelry as symbols
of taste and wealth. Working in an
unexpectedly large scale, her works suggest
traditional conventions of fashion jewelry,
reinforcing ideas about glamour and status,
while simultaneously undermining those
expectations. Brooks also has a strong
preference for stainless steel, an industrial
material unusual in fashion jewelry.
Jack Daws (born Stab, Kentucky, 1970)
Anywhere But Here, 2003
Gumball machine with various pharmaceuticals

Tacoma Art Museum, Museum purchase with

funds from Shari and John Behnke and Rebecca
and Alexander Stewart

Jack Daws’s sculpture Anywhere But Here

addresses the American fascination with
psychotropic drugs. The artist collected
prescription drugs from his friends and family to
illustrate the wide availability of the drugs and
how prevalent they have become for average
people. He points to the easy availability of
these mind-altering drugs by placing them in a
gumball machine. This gesture creates an
unsettling metaphor of the drugs as candy and
his title alludes to the cultural expectations that
these drugs can solve almost all personal
problems.
Kathryn van Dyke (born Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, 1957)
Knowing You, Knowing Me, 2001
Mirrors and monofilament

Tacoma Art Museum, Gift of Ben and Aileen

Krohn

Using hundreds of small mirrors, Kathryn van

Dyke deliberately fragments the viewer’s
perception of himself or herself and distorts their
ability to make sense of the physical space
outside of the installation. Because of the
seemingly countless number of reflections, the
viewer is unable to comprehend a single, unified
image. Van Dyke’s fragmentation serves as a
reminder of the complexity of each individual’s
psychological makeup. Her mirrored
environment also emphasizes how quickly
perceptions of ourselves can change as we move
from one moment and place to the next.
Anya Gallaccio (born Paisley, Scotland, 1963)
Even So, 2003
Bronze and glass

Collection of Rebecca and Alexander Stewart

Anya Gallaccio first received international

critical acclaim for her installations of decaying
organic materials such as flowers and fruits.
Broadly labeled as an “environmental artist”
because of her chosen materials, Gallaccio
focuses on the metaphor of natural cycles as a
tender reminder of the fragility and flux of
human existence. She also translates this
metaphor into lasting works in bronze and
glass. The melancholy Even So suggests a
quiet defiance or a verbal nudge to reconsider.
The sparse imagery also suggests a sublime
moment: seeds of the previous summer
preserved and waiting for the next cycle of
growth. This visual cue hints at the power of
“even so” in a conversation.
Monique van Genderen (born Vancouver,
British Columbia, Canada, 1965)
“…a fondness for fairytales and a love of
cash…” part II, 2007
Enamel and latex paint and vinyl on wall

Courtesy of The Happy Lion Gallery, Los

Angeles, Howard House Contemporary Art,
Seattle, and the artist

Monique van Genderen considers herself a

romantic painter. Her ethereal imagery and
otherworldly materials evoke places found only
in dreams. In this installation, van Genderen
uses the seductive and inky blue/black surface
on the smaller wall to reflect the amorphous
shapes that cover the second wall. She uses
these two walls as tools to create the actual
work of art: the reflections that hover in a
pictorial illusion that has no physical
boundaries. This interplay between reflection
and color suspends the belief in the tangible
world in the same way that fairytales transcend
both truth and fiction.
Jim Hodges (born Spokane, Washington,
1957)
Coming Through, 1999
Light bulbs with ceramic sockets, mounted on
wood and metal in two parts

Collection of Rebecca and Alexander Stewart

From its rigorous formal arrangements to its

use of consumer goods, Jim Hodges’s Coming
Through has a strong affinity with minimalist
art of the 1960s and 1970s as well as the work
of later artists such as Felix Gonzalez-Torres
(1957–1996). Hodges’s work expands the
expressive potential of simple elements to
convey multiple metaphors about memory,
loss, perfection, and desire. The light bulbs
illuminate the gallery, generate some degree of
warmth, and cast shadows. The visual impact
of Coming Through is never stable as the
viewer’s physical distance from the art
changes. The interaction between light and
viewer serves as a subtle reminder of the
ephemeral nature of memory and experience.
Oliver Herring (born Heidelberg, Germany,
1964)
Big Round Flat, 2001
Reflective Mylar, parachute nylon, and
Styrofoam

Courtesy of Max Protetch Gallery, New York,

and the artist

Oliver Herring created a series of hand-knitted

sculptures as an homage to his friend and
renowned performance artist Ethyl
Eichelberger (James Roy Eichelberger, 1945–
1990), including Big Round Flat. Ethyl
Eichelberger was an important figure in New
York’s “Downtown Scene” in the 1980s and was
a member of the Ridiculous Theater Company.
He was celebrated for his skill as a performer
and his talents as an actor. In his most
renowned roles, Eichelberger played multiple
characters of various genders simultaneously,
fluidly shifting from one character to the next.
To honor his friend, Herring meticulously
knitted the sculpture with Mylar as a reminder
of Eichelberger’s brilliant and sparkling talent.
Mary Lee Hu (born Lakewood, Ohio, 1943)
Choker #83, 2000
22-karat and 18-karat gold

Tacoma Art Museum, Museum purchase with

funds from the Rotasa Foundation, Friends of
Jewelry, and Ramona Solberg Endowment

For thousands of years and across all cultures,

humans have been fascinated with gold. The
soft metal continues to be prized for its rarity,
purity, malleability, and reflective qualities. The
extraordinary beauty of Choker #83 comes
from Mary Lee Hu’s understanding of this
history, her precision as an artist, and her
refined aesthetic. Twisting and weaving thin
gold wire, Hu evokes two types of body
adornment, both a traditional necklace and an
undulating, frozen ribbon. The flowing golden
lines capture a perfect moment in sparkling
splendor.
Jeff Koons (born York, Pennsylvania, 1955)
Inflatable Balloon Flower (Yellow), 1997–
2000
PVC, no. 50 from an edition of 51

Collection of the Jordan Schnitzer Family

Foundation

Jeff Koons creates artwork that deliberately

draws on notions of kitsch and often engages
in the spectacle of the ridiculous. He typically
selects a banal item, such as a balloon flower,
and increases its scale to monumental
proportions. Because he isolates the item in a
gallery or museum context, the sculpture
becomes a statement about art, preciousness,
and cultural impact. By focusing on the
artificiality and throw-away qualities of a
balloon flower, Koons challenges many of the
underlying assumptions of permanence and
value in the art world.
Glenn Ligon (born Bronx, New York, 1960)
Conclusion, 2004
Coal dust and oil stick on canvas

Courtesy of Bill Hodges Gallery, New York, and

the artist

In 1993, Glenn Ligon began a series of

monochromatic text paintings based on
writings about the African-American
experience. He appropriated texts from
distinguished authors such as James Baldwin
(1924–1987) and Zora Neale Hurston (1891–
1960). He distilled his understanding of these
writings to resonate with his personal
experience as an African-American. By creating
the letters in black paint and slightly coating
them with a layer of shimmering coal dust,
Ligon offers a visual equivalent for feelings of
invisibility. The darkness of the paint and the
brilliance of the coal dust evoke the
“blackness” of his experience, both his skin
color and his self-perception as an African-
American. In his later works, including
Conclusion, Ligon made the text nearly
incomprehensible to accentuate the emotional
impact of his frustrations.
Josiah McElheny (born Boston,
Massachusetts, 1966)
Possible Mirrors, 2002
Four French-polished, ebonized wood panels
and four mirrored, engraved crystal glass
panels

Courtesy of Donald Young Gallery, Chicago, and

the artist

With this work, Josiah McElheny grapples with

the potential meanings and metaphors of
mirrors as understood by the Argentinean
writer Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986). Borges
wrote that mirrors not only reflected the most
superficial aspects of the physical world but
also doubled the number of images, further
alienating an individual from authentic feelings
and experience. McElheny’s Possible Mirrors
provides a visual equivalent. The highly
polished black wood creates reflections even
though the color black absorbs all light and
color. Similarly, etched lines across the entire
surface of each mirror obscure any perfect
reflection.
Marilyn Minter (born Shreveport, Louisiana,
1948)
Cat’s Cradle, 2006
C-print, no. 1 from an edition of 5

Courtesy of Salon 94, New York, and the artist

Marilyn Minter (born Shreveport, Louisiana,

1948)
Blue Tears, 2004
C-print, no. 2 from an edition of 5

Courtesy of Salon 94, New York, and the artist

Marilyn Minter (born Shreveport, Louisiana,

1948)
More Spots, 2005
C-print, no. 4 from an edition of 5

Courtesy of Salon 94, New York, and the artist

For more than 20 years, Marilyn Minter has

created provocative images that explore ideas
of feminine beauty and perfection. Mimicking
conventions of feminine glamour as produced
by movies, television, and advertising, Minter
subverts these images by emphasizing the
impossibility of becoming a picture-perfect
woman. In these images, Minter focuses on
smeared lipstick, plastic fingernails, freckles,
and wet hair. Her photographs raise profound
questions about society’s lust for the “perfect
woman” and the costs to each woman if she
tries to force herself into a narrowly defined
stereotype.
Donald Moffett (born San Antonio, Texas,
1955)
What Barbara Jordan Wore (The Public,
The Committee, Ms. Jordan), 2002
Installation of oil and enamel on linen with
video projection

Collection of Museum of Contemporary Art,

Chicago, Restricted gift of Nancy A. Lauter and
Alfred L. McDougal, Judith Neisser, Barbara and
Thomas Ruben, Faye and Victor Morgenstern
Family Foundation, and Ruth Horwich

Donald Moffett (born San Antonio, Texas,

1955)
What Barbara Jordan Wore #3, 2001
Oil on linen

Collection of Rebecca and Alexander Stewart

Donald Moffett (born San Antonio, Texas,

1955)
Lot 011603 (e), 2003
Oil on linen

Collection of Rebecca and Alexander Stewart

Donald Moffett (born San Antonio, Texas,

1955)
Lot 081103 (r), 2003
Oil on linen

Collection of Rebecca and Alexander Stewart

Donald Moffett (born San Antonio, Texas,
1955)
Texas, 1967, 2001
C-print and wood frame, from an edition of 3

Courtesy of Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San

Francisco, and the artist

Donald Moffett (born San Antonio, Texas,

1955)
Texas, 1969, 2001
C-print and wood frame, from an edition of 3

Courtesy of Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San

Francisco, and the artist

Donald Moffett (born San Antonio, Texas,

1955)
Texas, 1971, 2001
C-print and wood frame, from an edition of 3

Courtesy of Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San

Francisco, and the artist

Donald Moffett (born San Antonio, Texas,

1955)
Lot 040202, 2002
Oil and enamel on linen
Collection of Sally and Jonathan Kovler
Donald Moffett created the series of paintings
and prints What Barbara Jordan Wore to honor
the accomplishments and dignity of the
political and civil rights leader Barbara Jordan.
Jordan (1936–1996) served in the Texas State
legislature from 1962 until her election to the
Unites States House of Representatives in
1972. Jordan’s distinguished legislative
accomplishments include the renewal of the
Voting Rights Act of 1965. She is best
remembered for her nationally televised
speech to the House Judiciary Committee
supporting the impeachment of Richard Nixon
in 1974. Her august and unwavering voice
articulated the deep seriousness of Nixon’s
breech of the nation’s trust and laws.

Moffett distills the strength and powerful

presence of Barbara Jordan by creating a multi-
faceted portrait. The title What Barbara Jordan
Wore alludes to her charisma and compelling
character rather than her choice of clothing.
The sparkling paints and flickering video
provides a metaphor for the importance of
Jordan as a politician and civil rights leader.
The singularity of each part of the installation,
whether the monochromatic paint or the
enlarged class portraits or the video
projections, reinforces the power of Jordan’s
personal convictions. Uniting the entire group
is a recording of Jordan’s celebrated speech to
the House Judiciary Committee.
What Barbara Jordan Wore was originally
presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art,
Chicago, in 2002, curated by Elizabeth Smith.
Tacoma Art Museum would like to thank the
Museum of Contemporary Art, Anthony Meier
Fine Art, San Francisco, and the artist for their
support and assistance in assembling these
works.
James Rosenquist (born Grand Forks, North
Dakota, 1933)
Gift-Wrapped Doll #14, 1992
Oil on canvas

Promised gift of the Virginia and Bagley Wright

Collection, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of
the Seattle Art Museum

James Rosenquist began his series of paintings

Serenade for the Doll after Claude Debussy or
Gift-Wrapped Dolls for his young daughter. This
romantic title reveals the inspiration
Rosenquist took from the French composer,
who wrote a series of small works for his own
daughter. Rosenquist wrapped a number of
generic dolls in plastic wrap and made close-up
photographs of them. He then translated his
photographs into large-scale paintings
highlighting the play of light across the plastic.
The plastic membrane that separates and
covers the doll symbolizes his fears and hopes
for his daughter’s future. The glimmering
colors also suggest the packaging of a new toy,
a barrier keeping the doll safe and untouched.
Alex Schweder (born New York City, New
York, 1970)
Jealous Poche, 2004
Digital video, 7 minutes, 30 seconds

Tacoma Art Museum, Anonymous gift

The architectural term poche (also poché)

refers to the empty space between the arc of a
curving wall of an interior room and the corners
of the perpendicular walls of the supporting,
outer structure. Alex Schweder is fascinated by
this unseen area and seeks to find parallels
between this architectural space and the
hidden areas of both the human body and of
psychological spaces. To represent this idea,
video monitors are mounted at varying depths
within the curve of the walls, and the changing
colors of the video entice viewers to ponder the
idea of movement through interior depths.
Alex Schweder (born New York City, New
York, 1970)
Still-life of Beefsteak and Cheese, 2004
Paper, ink, and scented varnish

Courtesy of Howard House Contemporary Art,

Seattle, and the artist

For the installation of Jealous Poche, Alex

Schweder created an elegantly curving volume
based on the floor plan of Gian Lorenzo
Bernini’s Sant’Andrea Al Quirinale, a small
Roman church completed in 1678 and
celebrated as an architectural masterpiece.
Because American architecture rarely
incorporates curvilinear spaces, Schweder
wanted to compound the impact of his unusual
installation by triggering other senses. The
brilliant colors and scratch-and-sniff feature of
the wallpaper emphasizes how architects
desire to activate all of the senses.
Interestingly, Schweder plays with his viewer’s
perception by incorporating the aroma of jelly
donuts rather than steak sandwiches.
Verena Sieber-Fuchs (born Appenzell,
Switzerland, 1943)
Toxicomanie [Drug-Addiction], 1992
Recycled, plastic, blister packaging for
pharmaceuticals and nylon monofilament

Collection of Nancy Worden

Verena Sieber-Fuchs uses discarded and

ephemeral materials to create jewelry that
addresses complicated social issues. In
Toxicomanie (“Drug Addiction”), Sieber-Fuchs
creates a large-scale collar from discarded pill
packages as a metaphor for the heavy burden
of drug dependence. The silver and transparent
plastic from hundreds of these containers
suggests the glimmer of diamonds and
crystals. Her neckpiece finds metaphorical
parallels between the beauty of gemstones and
the seductive qualities of drugs in society. For
the wearer of this neckpiece, the consequences
of addiction quickly become apparent: the
edges of the packets scratch and the size of
the collar overwhelms the shoulders and neck.
Jeffrey Simmons (born Cincinnati, Ohio,
1968)
Scatter and Amass, 2007
Alkyd and urethane resin on canvas over panel

Courtesy of Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, and

the artist

Jeffrey Simmons (born Cincinnati, Ohio,

1968)
Flux, 2002
Alkyd, Mylar, and epoxy resin on canvas over
wood panel

Tacoma Art Museum, Gift of David Lewis in

honor of
Dr. Gregory Lewis, Nancy Cole, and Delbert
Lewis

Jeffrey Simmons’s meticulous paintings meld

various traditions in abstract painting from the
hard-edged abstractions of early modernists to
op art of the 1960s. Simmons’s primary
interest is the optical relationships of carefully-
chosen color combinations. By using a base
layer of reflective Mylar, Simmons heightens
these effects. As the viewer moves about the
gallery, the painted imagery appears to shift
and glisten. The apparent changes in the
painting’s imagery are an optical illusion made
possible by the reflective Mylar.
Marc Swanson (born New Britain,
Connecticut, 1969)
Fits and Starts, 2004
Crystals, polyurethane foam, and adhesive

Collection of DePauw University, Gift of the

Butler Family Foundation

Marc Swanson often uses forest imagery as a

reference to his childhood experiences in New
Hampshire. By encrusting a fleeing deer in
brilliant crystals, Swanson’s Fits and Starts
melds his childhood memories with his adult
identity. The artist’s provocative hybrid of the
natural and the artificial is accentuated by the
multi-colored flashes of the white crystals. With
this combination of two radically different
symbols of beauty—an image of an untamed
deer in the wild and a highly polished and
unnatural arrangement of cut crystals—
Swanson highlights the multi-faceted aspects
of desire and identity. The expensive crystals
can be read as a symbol of the allure and
sophistication of his adult urban life and the
accumulation of ideas about art and beauty.
Andy Warhol (born Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
1928)
Howdy Doody from The Myths, 1981
Screenprint with diamond dust

Collection of Jim, Melinda, Hallie, and Jake

Riswold

Andy Warhol (born Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,

1928)
Santa Claus from The Myths, 1981
Screenprint with diamond dust

Collection of Jim, Melinda, Hallie, and Jake

Riswold

Andy Warhol (born Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,

1928)
The Witch from The Myths, 1981
Screenprint with diamond dust

Collection of Jim, Melinda, Hallie, and Jake

Riswold

Andy Warhol (born Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,

1928)
Uncle Sam from The Myths, 1981
Screenprint with diamond dust
Collection of Jim, Melinda, Hallie, and Jake
Riswold
In his 1981 series The Myths, Andy Warhol
continued his exploration of American popular
culture. Throughout his career, Warhol worked
primarily with the likenesses of living icons,
notably Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor.
For the images in The Myths, however, Warhol
focused on fictional characters. Imaginary
figures such as Santa Claus, Uncle Sam, Howdy
Doody, and the Wicked Witch of the West play
significant roles in American identity. The
essence of these characters fascinated Warhol:
the patriotism embodied by Uncle Sam; the
good and evil of Howdy Doody and the wicked
witch; and the generosity and magic of Santa
Claus. Warhol’s thin coating of diamond dust
provides a tangible layer of glimmering
substance, akin to the character’s cultural
value.
Alice Wheeler (born Kansas City, Missouri,
1961)
Kurt Cobain (glasses) at MTV’s Live &
Loud Pier 63 Seattle Dec. 13, 1993, 1993
Inkjet print

Courtesy of Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, and

the artist

Alice Wheeler (born Kansas City, Missouri,

1961)
Revolution Grrrl Style Now, Bikini Kill at
the X-Ray Café, Portland, Oregon, 1993,
printed 2007
Inkjet print

Courtesy of Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, and

the artist

These two images by Alice Wheeler from 1993

encapsulate the glamour and passion of the
Northwest’s alternative music scene. In both
pictures, dramatic lighting symbolizes their
status as “rock stars.” Wheeler’s image of Kurt
Cobain captures the mystique of a celebrity at
the pinnacle of his international fame. The
glittering tinsel and plastic glasses provide a
veneer that hid signs of Cobain’s impending
psychological collapse. The stage lights of the
Bikini Kill performance illuminate the skills of
each musician.

A turn of phrase will forever link Cobain and

Kathleen Hanna (one of the co-founders of
Bikini Kill). Hanna once scrawled the phrase
“Kurt smells like Teen Spirit.” Taking the
enigmatic phrase, he wrote the song Smells
Like Teen Spirit. This teen anthem symbolizes
the anxiety, cynicism, and ambiguity of the
early 1990s. Today, it is remembered fondly as
one of the most influential songs in American
popular music.

With hindsight, this pair provides a startling

contrast in the desire for fame and fortune.
Cobain’s untimely death in 1994 cemented his
image as a symbol of the angst of Generation
X. His suicide also offers a reminder of the
extreme costs of celebrity. The band Bikini Kill
denounced celebrity and fortune in favor of the
purity of their artistic vision. However fleeting,
celebrity and fame slowly fade.
Alice Wheeler (born Kansas City, Missouri,
1961)
Apple Blossom Queen at the Daffodil
Parade, Tacoma 2003, 2006
Chromogenic print, from an edition of 3

Courtesy of Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, and

the artist

In addition to her career as a journalistic

photographer, Alice Wheeler also seeks to
make photographs that capture the essence of
American culture. Like her photographs of the
grunge and riot grrrl music scenes, Wheeler
views the Northwest landscape and people
through her punk-influenced aesthetic. Her
photographs are often unsettling and preserve
idiosyncratic moments that teeter on the
surreal. In this scene of the activity just before
the Daffodil Parade began, Wheeler noticed the
conversation between the Apple Blossom
princesses and queen and the military official.
Despite their outward appearance as symbols
of hyper-masculinity and hyper-femininity,
these four individuals were participating in a
time-honored tradition of the south Puget
Sound region. Wheeler delights in the
juxtaposition of the rhinestone tiaras and the
firepower of the jeep-mounted weaponry.
Claude Zervas (born Bellingham, Washington,
1963)
Forest #3.5, 2005
Digital projection: single channel computer
algorithm, 4 minute cycle, continuous digital
photograph, Java program, computer, and
projector

Tacoma Art Museum, Purchased with funds

from Bill and Ruth True, Josef Vascovitz, and
Dawn Zervas

This digital projection is based on a single high-

resolution digital photograph of a forest
clearing in the North Cascade Mountains.
Claude Zervas wrote an algorithm to dissolve
and reconstitute his digital snapshot. Due to
the nature of the mathematical formula, it is a
virtual impossibility that a viewer will see the
same sequence of pixels twice. The resulting
images allude to the beauty and forms of the
great stained glass windows of medieval
Europe. This reference ties into the notion of
the Western landscape as a “cathedral in the
wilderness” which supported the doctrine of
westward expansion in the 19th century. By
employing advanced computer technology,
Zervas emphasizes the shifting relationship
between computer technologies and
environmental awareness.