TOBAN NICHOLS
"Saturnine Tassajara"July 14-August 12, 2016
Reception: Saturday, July 16, 6-9pm
Saturnine Tassajara
Single Channel Video
8:22
2016
Statement by Craig Corpora from the SFMOMA
Toban Nichols video Saturnine Tassajara (2016) tells the tale of two monstrous outcasts, who, in the midst of existential crisis, set out on a hero’s journey to search for what is missing in their respective lives. Intertwining both the narrative structure of an Ancient Greek play and the compositional underpinnings of a pop song, the story alternates between four acts and three response choruses.
Like Nichols’ photographic and videographic work, Saturnine Tassajara explores the formal possibilities of digital distortion and the randomness of glitch as an integral process of creation. The loose narrative is displayed through amorphous forms, which transform with each successive act as the video chorus shifts through a distorted wireframe rendering of the campy, cult porn Batdude. With both sections, Nichols may be drawing a connection between the randomness of technical glitch and unforeseen potentialities in life and love.
The video addresses issues of “otherness,” showing how those who do not easily fit into preconceived notions of normalcy are sometimes viewed as monstrous and undeserving of inclusion. As with the song snippet, from Frankie Goes To Hollywood, which opens the video, Saturnine Tassajara emphasizes the importance of love in our daily lives and its influence on transcendence, transformation and the conditions of identity.
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