Tony Oursler

(New York, 1957)

Trained at the California Institute of Arts (CalArts), his imagery moves between the physical and virtual worlds and addresses themes of denunciation of contemporary society such as environmental and biological pollution, the neuroses of modern life, the effects of television and psychological illnesses. He approaches audiovisual recording from a sculptural and performative conception, squeezing the potential of the medium by making projections on three-dimensional forms. He explores the technologies of the moving image to apply them to staged environments with animated characters that address the spectator directly. A psychologically dense dramaturgy with disturbing figurative works on which extreme emotional responses and meaningless soliloquies are projected. Ourler combines dissident worlds of scientific knowledge and spiritualism; a game of opposites in which presentation records such as projections, televisions and other optical devices connect us with occult, mystical or paranormal phenomena that exude a remarkable sense of humor. In 2013, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris exhibited The Poetics Project, an exhibition that examined the conventions of documentary video through the band’s brief career. Tony Oursler’s work has been seen in museums and art centres around the world, including the MoMA in New York (2016), the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam (2014), the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (2013) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (2005), and has participated in two editions of Documenta in Kassel (1987 and 1992). In addition, his work is part of prestigious collections such as those of the MoMA in New York, the Tate in London, the National Museum of Art in Osaka, Japan, and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington.