The Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe, in featuring the work of the Santa Fe based artists collective Keep Adding, has again demonstrated their leadership in the broader contemporary arts community, by supporting this exhibition entitled Wrekage. In addition to the exhibition, this catalogue and accompanying DVD, documents their major installation in two galleries at CCA, running from September 23rd, to November 18th, 2006.
Keep Adding is an emerging contemporary phenomenon with a dedicated following and an immense presence in art circles beyond Santa Fe, and on the web [keepadding.com]. Their computer-based work and hybrid installations are visually strong, impeccably designed and frequently coordinated with other artists. They often explore new work in a non- conventional collaborative atmosphere with progressive computer programmers, video artists and contemporary sound designers.
Keep Adding’s work is quintessentially youthful and contemporary. Eluding convention, they’ve defined their own artistic vocabulary. Their work springs from broad contemporary cultural contexts, but perhaps least of all, from art history. They’re much more interested in “art future”. On the surface the work might be mistaken for a stylized reflection of graffiti common to contemporary highly hyped hip-hop street culture. While their work is certainly non-conventional, unlike graffiti, it emerges from a deeply orchestrated sense of artistic presence and exudes a visionary, poetic formalism far from the pedestrian forms of graffiti they've left behind.
Their ingenious approach to working is a complete collaborative and improvisational process launched from a foundation of long time friendship, trust and experience. Like a jazz ensemble, their projects often emerge from an interlinked pool of existential thoughts. Their working premise reveals a rich source of contemporary contexts, including a strong influence from new music, as well as science, technology and a studied awareness of the history of international public “writing”. In a period of history that may be best remembered for its cultural and political numbness, Keep Adding presents a dynamic counterpoint. They exude an artistic tension, built on patience and balance, but pulsing with spontaneous energy, leaving viewers with an illusion of another place and an edgy sense of the other side.
Craig Anderson, Curator