Simon & Gus

2017 - Painting (Painting)
36 x 72 x 16 inches

Simon & Gus by Bobo is a binaural and fantastical artwork that tells the story of a sea steading maker-hobbyist as told from the perspective of an arduino board, and a mars dwelling stop motion animator as told from the perspective of a stop motion armature. The stop motion animator attends an artist residency on the red planet, and eventually sets out to start his own artist colony (a martian animation studio) with stupefying hubris. The result has disastrous consequences, with the martian ghosts eventually swallowing his soul, and his armature gaining full access to the animator’s motor skills and control of his ability to move. The diy maker attends a hackerbot conference, and decides to start his own sea colony for hackers, tinkerers and their like but his motives get upended as well, with the arduino board overtaking the maker’s consciousness. The two narratives are united in a surreal story structure, in time, and in form. They both play out symmetrically in many respects, on two video screens running a speed reading product running at 1000 words per minute so users can soak up as much of this narrative in as little time as possible.

Bobo is an art collective constituting the artists Nick Payne, Andrew Gillespie, and Phil Cote, and while as a collective entity they are relatively new to the art world, they have been highly influential to many younger NY artists. They got their start several years ago in Philadelphia as Bobo on 9th, blurring lines as a gallery, venue, band, and art collective.

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