Chris Coleman Artist Talk

Chris is an animation teacher at the University of Oregon who is mainly interested in creating animation and installation. His installation "Collusion" is a 20 minute looping video of smokestacks sucking in and breathing out smoke to the sound of unnatural human breathing. It symbolizes that we cannot live taking in more than we put it which includes the act of breathing and the way we pollute the earth. Another installation "Spatiodynamic" interacts with the public who watch through a video screen a rolling landscape. If they turn the corner they see that the image is created by computer fans blowing up a piece of plastic that is suspended from the ceiling. It is a grid form that creates an organic shape. The presence of people in the hallway determines which fans are operated. "Modern Times" is an animation using cartoons found from the government's website on how the public can prepare for terrorism. Chris makes a statement on how the government scares the public into being always scared of what could happen and how we lump things and people into good and evil categories. This makes society as a whole sometimes feel apathy towards others' pain and that we become scared of our own neighbors. Chris' work in progress deals with socioeconomic status, international divides, and other divides between people and cultures. He uses more imagery and cartoons from the idealistic 1950s and 1960s U.S.A. His intent for his work is to make us question conclusions that power figures such as the governemnt have already given us and to come to our own thoughts on important world issues.