Leslie Nobler: The Three R’s Plus Art

Artist(s):

Leslie Nobler

Title:

The Three R's Plus Art

Exhibition:

DAC Online Exhibition 2020: Digital Power: Activism, Advocacy and the Influence of Women Online

Artist Statement:

This project deals with climate change and environmental refugee-ism. It interjects global artforms and ideologies, specifically Bojagi (the creation of reusable wrapping and blanketing textiles with – oft-recycled – fabric scraps) of Korea. Both reference this Korean art form, almost universally practiced by women. The long concept is about finding homes for refugees; it repeats a house motif with an ever-watchful eye superimposed, along with (multi-meaning) stonewall imagery. The square piece, entitled ‘Pollution Patches’ shows polluted water gushing out of a faucet, not unlike the problem in Flint, MI. Although the work feels like virtual quilt making, the idea of using quilts as platforms for women’s voices on social issues go back generations, and this work has been broadly exhibited online.

Looking at ways in which artists bring their heritage, their personal stories, and their hands into their electronic/digital art have long been a research thrust and influence upon my art practice. I look to both the approach and techniques of fine artists as much as I look to the logic, power, and open-endedness of experimental computer pioneers. I merge manipulated/painted and photographic imagery with digital mark-making through the line, motif, and texture, using a complex layering process. There are societal concerns, often linked to the personal stories mentioned above, ever-present in my work as well; social justice and specifically refugee crises, environmentalism and feminism are referenced. As a social justice artist for decades, I use digital media to build often large pieces (and sometimes miniature) with computing efficiency and timeliness in mind. In the months after various, harsh anti-environmental policies were enacted; I researched and incorporated ideas and information into my computer artwork. Since the last presidential election, I have been compelled to add refugee concerns to my previous focus on feminism, eco-feminism and pacifism.