Even in today’s postmodern art world atmosphere, many people still think of visual art as that which is displayed in the traditional gallery and museum setting, i.e. artwork “on display” with the final destination as someone’s wall. Much of the “alternative” space art deals with societal/cultural/political issues and have a purpose of enlightening (and often preaching) with a message attached. This presentation has a different purpose in mind.

It seems to me that people too often just see the end result of the artistic process. The object is displayed either in isolation of its creative context or in a “coherent body” of like work. It’s through the process of doing, and in the myriad of coherent and incoherent thoughts and actions that the artist’s mind follows at any one time, that is the real art. The participants in “Stream of Consciousness” have striven to express this visually and give you a short journey into their mind’s “stream of consciousness”.

Each artist has his/her own use for the materials they use to express their inner world. On the surface it would seem that some of these artists have little in common with each other. But underneath all artists, and all people, is this set of constantly changing inner thoughts, sensations and emotions that shape their lives. The coherent thread that ties these disparate artists together is the very universality of this stream. Literary works easily use these thoughts to give depth to a character; words easily translate to words. Translating them into the visual and corporeal world is a little more difficult. These eight artists are giving it a shot and offering you a chance to wade into their stream for a while.

Randy Pottenger