Chimeral States 1 (I Want To Go Back)
2016
Single-Channel Video
Edition of 4 and 2 Artists Proofs
Dimensions Variable
4:26

Chimeral States 1 (I Want To Go Back) is the introduction to a series featuring the interactions of multiple fabricated identities. Critique is evident, but ultimately Chimeral States is meant to be hopeful. It presents a hypothetical couple as they navigate a conceptualized non-space similar to Lacan’s notion of the Real. Their innermost yearnings are brought to light through the vocals of the dance tune, and their choreography suggests a disintegration of the nuclear family. The act of making selfies constitutes a contemporary memento mori, with vitality existing in correlation to digital imagery of the self. The phone is the modern manifestation of the classic skull as the personification of death.

Slapstick acting is paired with the desire to “go back to the womb” as well as to “figure out all the answers.” Contemporary exchange is probed via the need to “be more like you,” uttered either from the figures themselves or from an omnipotent source. The recipient of the verses is not immediately clear, although the two figures could be addressing one another. The pair’s wedding is indicative of their need to construct genuine connections out of the deceptive void of cyber relationships and contemporary communications. The frivolousness of craving “all the diamonds I need” is tied to a multidimensional virtual stage set that continuously collapses in on itself. Antique architecture and furnishings exist in harsh contrast to bodily iconography, such as the phallus that has been removed from its body and doubled, suggesting an erasure of maleness in favor of toys and self-satisfaction.