(Human Non-Human) presents a sculpture cannibalized by the algorithm: generative software has scanned and obliterated a single artwork by Curry into nearly three hundred variations. Extracting nascent motifs from the original’s silhouette, an array of new mutated forms emerge. In some, faces drift through neon-jellied skulls, while in others a jack-o-lantern maw cracks open where a chin once was. Phasing between materials resembling painted wood, Christmas decorations, and molten plastic, these figures morph through a range of styles, simultaneously recalling face jugs of the American Folk Art movement, the 80s stylings of the Memphis Group, and circuit-bent vintage toys. Upon completion of (Human Non-Human), Curry destroyed the original physical sculpture, thus transforming these variations into the only record of that work’s existence. What remains is a visual projection of what could have been: an amalgamation of possibilities and latent transformations across parallel timelines.
(Human Non-Human) is produced in an edition of 120 copies, each of which includes a flexi-disc record featuring music by Aaron Curry and Richard Hawkins.
Published by Bad Dimension Press.
Softcover, 296 pages, English, 2024
