Metal, Machines, Music
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Perhaps the most successful example of what he’s talking about is the military-industrial-complex satire of the Bay Area’s Survival Research Laboratories, but this kind of work has become increasingly common with the emergence of artists who’ve been raised on high technology. Yet the current gallery system doesn’t provide much of a forum for it to be seen, much less sold, says 25-year-old Ray, who will open one such forum–a multimedia space called Deadtech–this Sunday in a Logan Square loft. The kickoff party features performances by Japanese sound artist and guitarist KK Null (best known in these parts as leader of the aural horror show Zeni Geva), New Jersey guitarist-electronicist Damian Catera, and Oakland instrument inventor Jalopaz (who’ll play something called a Dagochopper), plus video by Australian artist Seldon Hunt, who’s also done cover art for Null.
If a sale is made, the artist will be expected to donate to the gallery what he or she thinks Ray’s contribution was worth in terms of exposure and promotion. Ray says he figures that keeping a show up for a month costs about $500, not including the rent on the loft. His only countermeasure against an artist who doesn’t pony up out of his own sense of fairness is his power to say, “Well, that artist would never show here again.” Considering that there are very few galleries devoted to this genre of work in the world–and certainly no others in Chicago–he considers this sufficient. “It keeps me honest and it keeps them honest too,” he says. “I definitely have a standard that I adhere to, and I want to work with people who have that same standard.”
