Location: Tribeca, New York, US
Coordinates: 40.723681, -74.006436
Documented: September 2024
Artwork Details: Halloween II, 2015-ongoing, Hand Cut Paper and Found VHS Box, 7.5 x 4.5 in
This work is featured in the exhibition digital twin : Consumer Layers, a Digital Twin project. We ask you to slow down and look, to fight against our collective habit to swipe and scroll.
Slow down. Focus. View the work.
Artist Statement
Charles Clary always felt a kindred spirit to the final person standing in a scary movie – surviving through the trauma. As a hand-cut paper artist Clary uses paper to create a world of fiction that challenges the viewer to suspend disbelief and venture into fabricated reality. Clary sources VHS tape copies of his favorite movies at his local thrift stores. Analog and carelessly discarded, these films held a lot of emotional significance to Clary, who saw them as “beautiful scarifications,” a traumatic moment healed by a film. In his work Clary designs around what he feels is important and then carefully cuts and layers paper into the slipcase of a VHS tape. Clary rescues these once-beloved items, transforming these objects into meticulously crafted objects that challenge viewers to reconsider the fleeting value consumer society places on once-cherished items.
Charles Clary was born in Morristown, Tennessee, holds a BFA in painting from Middle Tennessee State University and an MFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design. His work has been showcased globally, including exhibitions at Galerie Evolution-Pierre Cardin in Paris, CODA Museum Paper Biennial in 2021, and the Shanghai Paper Biennial in 2021. Clary earned the Top Prize at the 2016 ArtFields Competition and multiple awards at ArtFields in 2019. Notably, he sold three commissioned pieces to Google corporate offices and was named the HTC Distinguished Teacher-Scholar at Coastal Carolina University in 2022. His accolades extend to features in publications like WIRED, Hi Fructose, and appearances in exhibitions worldwide. Represented by Paradigm Gallery + Studio and R02 Gallery, Clary resides in Conway, South Carolina, serving as an Associate Professor of Studio Art at Coastal Carolina University.
Digital Twin is a digital based project aimed at presenting a fresh perspective. It is artwork captured digitally in an original location, showcasing the interplay of light on surfaces, that alters the way art is experienced and opening the viewer up to novel ways of seeing. In this digital environment we ask the viewer to slow down and look, to fight against our collective habit to swipe and scroll.