“Temporary Extensions” Drawing Series, Pencil on Paper, 40″ x 29″
“Ani Avanian creates beautiful graphite drawings of biomorphic-techno forms. Her imagery conjures up worlds of strange sexualities, commercial displays, and alien forms, arguing for a critique of the seductive designs of consumer technology.”
– Dina Deitsch, Associate Curator at deCordova Sculpture Park & Museum
Drawings installed at Aidekman Arts Center, Boston, MA
In his book Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, Marshall McLuhan (Canadian philosopher of communication theory), discusses how each media “adds itself on to what we already are,” realizing “amputations and extensions” to our senses and bodies, shaping them in a new technical form. And because these objects shape us into seemingly more improved versions of ourselves, we inevitably strive to obtain the newest, fastest, slimmest model, often overlooking the consequences of our rapid adoption and/or rates of disposal.
I’m interested in molding familiar forms into something indistinguishable, as I believe some day soon, it will be merely impossible to define the difference between forms that appear organically in nature, and those which are considered “man-made” or manufactured.