Clay Statement, 2012.

Clay, as a physical substance, persists in sustaining our material consciousness even within the context of a clean, user-friendly, and technologically based virtual age. I find this dichotomous phenomenon very intriguing. In the hands of the maker, clay is being influenced by the ambiguous context of virtual reality. Outdated technologically, yet analogous to the infinite possibilities of digital form, the amorphous qualities of clay continue to serve as a relatable medium for interpretation. I am interested in how digital material will influence our notion of physical form in reciprocal and possibly reactionary manners.
My practice reconsiders function as being more than utility by extending its meaning into the experiential need to comprehend with our hands; ceramic objects are the accepted petrifications of the human experience as it was previously recorded in soft clay. As the notion of the object advances digitally, it is my belief that archiving experiences tangibly will continue to define human nature, and in the context of the virtual age, is increasingly important to do so.

SOLO Show

Funded, Curated, Attended, and Works made by Jason Lee Starin. Limited engagement.

Starin says of Starin, "Good show. But I think this guy might sit around a lot by himself, looking at the Internet, and Googling himself. It felt weird needless to say. Glad I went."

Stands, Trophy (Bauhaus Gold), and Thrust / Brute, 2011.

Hybrid production / making.

Hybrid production / making.
(Cyborg craftsman)
(Digitized humanity)

Possible effects that a digital material consciousness (the use of non-tangible bits to produce things) is having on a physically based material consciousness (the use of tangible atoms to make objects.)

Aesthetics as predicated by Gestalt theory and/or natural law is bent, if not eradicated.

The relationship between form and space blurred / homogenized.
The notions which define images apart from objects and visa versa further blurred.
A 360 degree awareness of objects is gained, thus eradicating sides, top or bottom, etc. (Objects made with out the considerations of gravity as a limiting factor / constant.)

Indeterminate time. Atemporal considerations bias of entropy.
Infinite space.
Identity crisis. We share nothing in our genetic make up with digital material. No atomic / psychological connection. In time, possible race and gender equality.
A lack of presence, no record of human interaction / involvement / manipulation. No tangible history.
The conceptualization of everything including and not limited to self.
A redefinition of function extending beyond utility and more towards the physical act of making / creation, sustaining previous notions of human problem solving. Work of the hand becoming that much more important / radical.
No rules. The possibilities are endlessly possible. Every confidence attained without need for hesitation or self doubt. No barriers / no limits.
Non-material consciousness leads to heightened transcendental / spiritual / awareness.
Transition from phonetic based languages to code, text, and/or possible telepathic languages / communication systems.
Redefinition or expansion of terms material, form, space, mass, place, human etc.
Simulation of telekinetic experiences, happenings, possibilities, and interactions.
Notions of travel, transportation, and shipping change.
Amorphous, non-structured societies, cultures, classes, and psychologies.
Environments and architectural structures become more moments than places, shelters. Notion of public spaces and / or places become radically changed.

As a digitally formated conscious is not tangible, the issues considered with it are also non-objectify-able, thus rendering these issues as conceptual and theoretical. In a sort of way, all things become harbored to the realm of imagination, mere notions if anything. It is possibly wrong to think in extremes, projecting a completely new future over a previously established way of life. Instead, consider a hybrid of these two consciousness. Ponder the possibilities of having a conscious articulated from both the materially physical as well as the digitally virtual. What are the losses, gains, and further more, what composites of both consciouses would simply expand our notions of self, being, life, and the worlds we inhabit?

Jason Lee Starin
11.29.2011

Artist Statement August 2011

Clay as a physical substance persists in sustaining our material consciousness, even within the context of a clean, user-friendly, and technologically based digital age.  I find this dichotomous circumstance very intriguing.  The amorphous possibilities of clay continue to be influenced by the ambiguous context which we call virtual reality.  Outdated, yet analogous to the infinite possibilities of digital form, the plastic quality of clay serves as a relatable and familiar construct for affirming an adaptive hybrid psychology between physical and virtual realities.  I am interested in how digital material will continue to influence our notion of physical form in reciprocal and possibly reactionary manners. My work continues to explore these influences and possibilities in form and concept, reconsidering the notion of function within the hand-made discipline of ceramics. 

From Clay to Code

I am confused why we are not discussing what I consider a most pressing issue.  (Forgive me if I am being redundant.)  That issue being, that the very nature of things is changing right before our eyes and continues to do so exponentially.  Things, physical things, are increasingly changing from tangible objects to non-objects, furthermore, they are existing in a context that has fairly new and unprecedented conditions.  Non-the-less, these non-objects are serving the needs of people, of which are information, entertainment, and communication albeit in very different ways from which we are conditioned to.  I am, of course, talking about the digital world, or virtual reality - by extension, that which we call the Internet.  An intangible reality which we created and exist in that is not conditioned to how we have come to know and sustain ourselves by, meaning, physically, through a material consciousness - with psychologically structured knowledge based on the notion of resistance to material.  The very nature of things, a concept that has a foundation in natural material knowledge, said another way, traditional craft materials and practices, has no connection what-so-ever to the virtual world because that reality, if it is indeed so, is not physically based.  As a non-material, non-form, non-space, non-time, non-anything we can actually sense with a haptic experience based reality, the virtual environment is re-forming our very psychologies, social interactions, and ways of understanding.  The very foundation of humanity is transitioning right before our eyes from a material based consciousness to a digital material based consciousness. I am alarmed because crafts people who are intrinsically connected to this material foundation are not talking about it.  We are literally losing touch with our humanity.  Could this circumstance be the impetus to the resurgence in craft? Furthermore, if this circumstance is as critical as I suggest, does this new digital based psychology not reformat the very notion of aesthetics, nullifying the distinctions between the individual disciplines of art, craft, and design or in the very least, completely expand their previous definitions? I suggest that those who continue to practice making by hand will become the utmost revolutionary but not by continuing to objectify necessity or intention, but rather by reconciling in an adaptive manner the non-material qualities of traditional craft material, those qualities being likened to the amorphous and the metamorphic.

Accretions - New Ceramic Work, July 2011

Some Kind’a Function - New window display downtown Portland

Clay as a technology persists in sustaining our material consciousness, even within the context a digital age.  Outdated, yet analogous to the infinite possibilities of digital form, clay serves as a relatable and familiar construct for affirming a hybrid psychology between physical and virtual realities.

Window display downtown Portland until mid-August 2011.  At the Galleria, 10th and Morrison SE.

An Absolute Survey of Unthinkable Complexity, 2011 - video documentation.

Pics from my thesis ceramic show