Art + Artists

J. Michael Simpson works with painting and video presented as installations, while exploring the paradox of reality in contemporary existence. Though current technology allows us to virtually “re-live” any given moment, ironically, that moment can never actually be again. His project at McColl Center addresses the paradox by focusing on a white water river in northwest South Carolina and using documented GPS readings and video to create two-second fragments. These individual moments are then divided into five still images that are transposed into paintings, which reveals a moment within that time fragment. Though original moments can never be again, its virtual/physical transcriptions and reconstructions shape the very nature of contemporary existence.