New small work in the CRISPR series. Variegated, textured, reflective, linear and faceted surface that optically shifts according to position, light changes, distance, etc. (Inquire for details). See also the larger works (and public art scale works) in this series.
CRISPR painting series by K.I.A.
New work in the CRISPR series of genetically modified (spliced) paintings, “CRISPR SILVR” 50 x 40 x 2”, acrylic on paper on panel. The sculptural painting consists of thousands of discrete slices of paper spliced togethe, with the work shifting and optically changing with the light and angle. See the ongoing series HERE
(The work below is the yang to its yin, same dimensions)
The Window by K.I.A., selected images as new media digital installation (screen, LED, projection)
Compilation of photographs as grouped by theme into a single image.
The compilations range from two up to 60+ images. Dimensions variable and flexible — portrait, landscape, square, etc. Inquiries welcome.
Here are a few examples of the “visual poems” compilted from The Window, a 24/7/365/1 project documenting the diversity, velocity, and humanity of life at this moment.
See more of the compilations HERE (and more being added over time.)
“ultimulticulti” (39 image compilation):
“Views From the Six” (36 image compilation):
“Happiness Is Motion” (aka “Wheelers and Wheelies” (6 image compilation):
Other compilations: Gravity/Antigravity, Wraiths Below the Window, Sequences….
Art never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme (to remix Mark Twain’s quote about history)… READ MORE AT MY SUBSTACK (and subscribe) HERE
General Stealth Car River 84 x 60”, oilstick on aluminum by K.I.A.
Tom Thomson x Emily Carr ÷ General Idea x Agnes Martin = genetically modified Canadian art. Taking the forests of Thomson and splicing them with organic shapes of Carr over the t.v. bands of General Idea, and beneath the minimalist lines of Martin.
There is a horizontal, as well as a vertical, tracking of light as the aluminum reflects with movement and illumination, contrasting the velvety matte of the oilstick.
A pairing of enigmatic images of couples from the multimedia photography project The Window . Read more here at the K.I.A. art sub stack: LINK
From The Window 24/7/365/1 photo series…
Here Come the Future (Read aboutt this image at my Substack HERE and subscribe!)
ACQUIRED!: CRISPR ROUTR
This 40 x 30” work is off to a collection.
It’s from the ‘genetically modified’ CRISPR painting series where the visual genes — strips sliced from separately made paintings or painted post-cutting — are recombined (interleaved or spliced) to create a new painting. This particular piece has thousands and thousands of individual strips, and was created during an art residency at the Banff Centre. For this particular work, individual slices and whole sections were dipped in ink and then interleaved. Later the work was sanded to give it a sun-bleached or aged look.
The work reveals subtle details with close or repeated viewing — tectonic fissures, rough edging, horizontal striations. (Kinda like viewing a linear mandala or a zen garden, or wave sets on the ocean, or a waterfall that appears constant but changes when close up…
In-studio works: CRISPR Blu, a painting/sculpture composed of 1000s of individually shaped discete visual units (blue from the front, but reveals as orange/pink/purple from an oblique angle); next, an assemblage of some of the smaller works in the CRISPR series assembled on the wall.
The CRISPR series are “genetically modified” paintings, where discrete visual units — slices from paintings, are spliced together into a new form. They are sculptural, and reveal differently from different angles.
(Inquire for specfic details on works)
A study of the diversity and velocity of the modern metropolis…
Images from the ongoing photo series “The Window” by K.I.A. (See pages 1-6 on the sight, email for password, prints, nfts, and exhibition inquiries).
“Crosswalk Catwalk”:
“Movement Not Moving”:
Read about the below image “The Wandering Bishop” HERE.
Navigational and star charts, satellite shots, gps, glyphs, geography, molecular maps. Micro to Macro. Photons and suns. Flatness vs. vastness, circles against grids. “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” -- maps (art) as abstraction of a reality that is not possible to accurately capture. A map can never be correct -- it would have to be the size of the land to be so... and even then, to be accurate, would have to include that map, and so on. Map as different from a mirror, or a window, but still not reality. “Real Housewives Of” is anything but that.
But sometimes... though the map is not the territory, the abstraction -- the poem, the painting --- can actually give truer insight (and reality can shadow.)
The substrate in this painting is bent like an unfolded map; concavities have been drilled into the many-layered colors, and they, along with the scored, scratched and sanded metal grids, luminesce as you move; silver light trails and sparkles highlighting/undermining the 2D/3D elements, and the matte of the medium.
Other works on aluminun, 84 x 60”, (more about HERE):
And also these recombinant and intermixable aluminum panel works (more about HERE); below are a few of the infinite arrangements of the works, see the link for the “seed” (original) paintings:
A sculpture, a volumetric line drawing, an installation, variable in scale. Permanent or ephemeral. The below sculpture “Aurora” is 144 x 60 x 48” and is adaptable in shape and size to various settings. Future works in this series are to be absolutely enormous (and colorful). The inspiration for this was auroras, comets, van allen belts, electricity, subatomic cloud chambers…
The work builds on the other sculptures seen below, all of which are single works created from mutliple component parts, the purpose of which is so they can be transformed in scale and shape, and meaning, (and ship easily.) Much of my work (paintings, sculpture, installation, and photo projects) is constructed this way - in no smal part to highlight the beautiful precarity of life (change always) and how larger systems are composed of unique discrete parts (the forest is the trees / the forest is not the trees, the individual is not the collective, etc).
Left: two separate paintings, each made of dozens recombinant panels, intermixed; Center: conduit tree, made from hundreds of component parts, Right: NDF, a work made from hundreds fo feathers, darts and needles. All are variable in scale and shape. The below works is a enormous and complex volumetric painting/sculpture, in development (and awaiting an ambitious curator).
Many more works like this on the site; poke around…
Mrs Major Tom, (the song-story, cont’d) over at my Substack. Please subscribe over there for ongoing posts about art, ideas, poetry plus! Here’s the link: MRS MAJOR TOM
Here’s an excerpt:
“Mrs Major Tom” is a song that continues the story of Major Tom (from David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” and “Ashes to Ashes”) but now told from the point of view of the wife left at home.
The song has two versions; Sheryl Crow’s cover (acoustic), and the original edit (ambient electronic) that I released as K.I.A.. Here’s the lyrics:
You went up, so bright Tom
Thought my love was rocketing you along
When you didn't come back, and didn't come back
My nova heart collapsed to a black, black hole…
To read the rest, click HERE
I’m shifting K.I.A. and nu4ya art posts to my new Substack. Preview or teaser posts will show up here, but more detailed discussion and images will be at nu4ya.substack.com , so please subscribe for all the advance and behind the scene news and views! The substack will be interactive, and I’ll be replying to all comments, emails, requests and so on. Add your email below:
This work is from the ongoing CRISPR series. They are GMAs (gen mod art), with their visual DNA — taken from multiple paintings — sliced and spliced together to create new works. They are also digital/analog hybrids, in that each of the 1000s of spliced elements are discrete, like a pixel, but they are analog (exist IRL, cut from paper). The component pieces are meticulously placed together to create a cohesive abstract with a complex and optically-shifting surface with a type of retinal rhyme scheme.
This particular work is actually made from found wind from various geographical locations; that is, the wind (mountains, a lake, a prairie, etc) was used to drift the paint on various flat substrates, which were then chopped up and intermixed.
(Acquired recently by Canadian art collector).
A recent work in the series CRISPR BLU (50 x 40 x 3”) , acrylic on archival paper. Thousands of hand-cut units of paper, each entirely unique. This particular work presents hyper-blue from the front (with silver edging), but at oblique angles multiple colors are subtly revealed (magentas, purples, oranges, reds).
Master and synch rights to all K.I.A. and Shinjuku Zulu songs are 100% owned by the artist. To license Shinjuku Zulu or K.I.A. songs for productions, contact HERE . One stop quick clearance for Shinjuku Zulu and K.I.A. songs tv series, movies, commercials and other productions.
Multiple songs by Shinjuku Zulu as well as K.I.A. have been licensed to tv series, MOW, and film productions around the world. (MTV, FOX, CBS, ABC, FX, CBC...) . There are vocal and instrumental edits for most songs. Songs can be pre-cleared for use, and multiple use (needle drop) deals are possible.
Grammy-award winner Sheryl Crow recorded K.I.A.'s song "Mrs Major Tom".
FOUR STAR REVIEWS: "Sheer brilliance, haunting vocals…top ten of the year”, - GLOBE “Breaks,house,reggae, exotic vocals… warrants repeated listens” -GAZETTE “Good dubby house, good electronic dancehall… urban dance at it’s best”-EXCLAIM "Ambitious trans-continental mashups, melds components elegantly" -POPMATTERS -2
Artists: 1 ) K.I.A. 2) Shinjuku Zulu. -6 albums (70+ songs). -Note songs: "That Groove" (dance), "Allelujah" (chill), "Make Me Shake" (sexy r & b), "Segue" (electronic climactic chant), "Uneunoia" (ambient instrumental)
All songs registered with SOCAN / ASCAP
SHINJUKU ZULU and K.I.A. songs by content / mood / style / theme, some examples:
SHINJUKU ZULU songs on Spotify: LINK
K.I.A. songs on Spotify: LINK
Singer songwriter songs for license: (theme)
K.I.A.:
Mrs Major Tom (lost love)
Hummingbird (love)
Box the Gnat (romantic love)
SHINJUKU ZULU:
Sweetness Likes the Reverb (love, accapella)
Dance songs, party club songs for license:
K.I.A.: Eyeah
SHINJUKU ZULU: That Groove, SXYLV
World / regional songs for license: (LINK)
K.I.A.:
Allelujah (ancient choral chant + electronic)
SHINJUKU ZULU:
Segue (global chants + beats)
Tuktuyuktuk (chants; hypnotic, otherworldly)
Songs about peace , unity, anti-war. getting along:
SHINJUKU ZULU:
One Come We
Allelujah
Songs about melancholy, loneliness, sadness, moody songs:
SHINJUKU ZULU: Broken (hums, blues vocals, ambient beats)
K.I.A.: Rise Up, Dubmarine
Songs about dating, sex:
SHINJUKU ZULU:
Make Me Shake
SXYLV
Songs about technology, dystopia, the future:
SHINJUKU ZULU:
We Do Supersonic
Massive Ballerina
SXYLV
Songs about diversity, equity, inclusion:
SHINJUKU ZULU
Shanghai Masai (rap)
Be My Woman Be My Man (male Vox)
Songs about Freedom:
SHINJUKU ZULU: Freedom
Songs about love:
SHINJUKU ZULU: Slow Is the New Fast
K.I.A.: Hummingbird, Feel It, Box the Gnat
Songs about speed:
SHINJUKU ZULU: Slow Is the New Fast, We Do Supersonic
Songs about relaxing, mediating, chilling out:
K.I.A.: Scatter, Dubmarine, Rise Up, MMM
K.I.A. song breakdown for Sonorous Susurrus album
Shinjuku Zulu song breakdown for Kiss the Honey, Honey
Shinjuku Zulu songs used in tv & film productions:
SHINJUKU ZULU: That Groove, Make Me Shake, Dirty Liar, We Do Supersonic, Be My Woman Be My Man, Kiss the Honey Honey, Hey La, Segue, The Way You Move, SXYLV, Slow Is the New Fast
K.I.A songs used in tv & film productions.:
Allelujah, Uneunoia, Eyeah, Nevermine, Be My DJ, Rashomon, Almighty Beat, PS/AT, Losing My Mind, Howdydaomaori, Sensation
weatherwerks. more. See PRINTS and NFT. More in the series, previous post
Another weatherwork for the season (see previous post.) Prints from the seriesavailable. More HERE
(earthwork: 22 x 28’, mixed media on snow -K.I.A. 2022. Prints, varous sizes)
Every year I do an earthwork — more accurately, a snowwork — on a frozen lakebed flat and white like a canvas (what artist could resist) . This year the season started out unseasonably warm (no ice or snow), and then went directly to -30 degrees.
I labored all day on the above work, and by the time it was ready to photograph it was sunset (often the case) and my phone battery was dying. So, running back and forth trying to get enough juice to take some shots before the light faded, I slipped on the ice and bonked my head, and while taking the photos the temperature and wind chill gave me frostbite. “Suffer for my art” and all that.
All the works are quite large, usually over 30’. They never last more than a few hours post-completion.
Because ice crystals are discrete units, like pixels comprising a jpeg, the work is pseudodigital. It was only experienced by one person IRL. Because the work is ephemeral, the documentation is the art. The photos have a very interesting ambiguous depth to them, appearing as both flat abstract images but also, with closer viewing, a deep spatial perspective.
More land art works by K.I.A. HERE. Contact for details.
Earlier years — see fully at Weatherworks:
