on dialectics

Dialectics is a powerful theoretical understanding of both material and ideal processes. At its heart lies the idea that a thesis and an antithesis produce a synthesis. In other words, the conflict between two dichotomous elements results in an altogether new phenomenon moulded by the two.

With dialectics, I explore the meaning and function of objects. The Dadaists and Surrealists were trailblazers in undermining traditional conceptions about visual art. Through inverting some common objects’ functions, the imagination is tingled to spiral into ridiculous situations.

A vessel which rather than receiving a liquid blocks it, for example, not only conflicts its principal function but also alludes to its very universal pairing with alcoholic drink. And furniture, too, abandons its immaterial role and takes on an anthropomorphic character, ‘using’ the human.

Through questioning function, meaning, materiality and spirit, dialectics plays homage to both art history and to contemporary mass psychological issues resulting from the alienation that capitalism continuously produces.