Scott Greenwalt and Andre Eamiello have created a living installation entitled, “Astromanna” within the window-box and gallery of As Is Exhibitions – 4707 TELEGRAPH, OAKLAND, CA.
“Mana is an indigenous Pacific islander concept of an impersonal force or quality that resides in people, animals, and (debatably) inanimate objects. The word is a cognate in many Oceanic languages, including Melanesian, Polynesian, and Micronesian.
In anthropological discourse, mana as a generalized concept is often understood as a precursor to formal religion. It has commonly been interpreted as “the stuff of which magic is formed,” as well as the substance of which souls are made.
Modern fantasy fiction, computer and role-playing games have adopted mana as a term for magic points, an expendable (and most often rechargeable) resource out of which magic users form their magical spells.”
Playing with the idea that inter-dimensional intervention may be at work generating untold phenomenon, the artists have endeavored to create a machine intended to resurrect and/or sustain life with the utilization of discarded everyday items, rudimentary electrical components, natural elements as well as the odds and ends we keep at hand to make house-hold repairs. The result is a kind of hydroponic-Frankenstein, that aims to be both reverent and absurd while reflecting the body (and other life) as machines that can be harvested – for parts or for fuel – and, conversely, repaired using incongruous anatomy to augment organs of necessary function.
GATHERING TONIGHT, FRIDAY THE 22ND FROM 7-10PM.
ON VIEW THRU AUG 1.
GALLERY HOURS= SATURDAYS 1-5
AS IS EXHIBITIONS 