Featured Artist:
CHRIS TWOMEY
OMNI SERIES, Art and Genetics in a Digital Age

A Gathering of the Tribes gallery  was pleased to present CHRIS TWOMEY’S new media installation, “OMNI SERIES, Art and Genetics in a Digital Age,” celebrating diversity and our shared humanity as we reflect on our genetic future.  The installation was exhibited during June and July of 2004.

Twomey’s installation included 70 images of navels that were digitally re-coded from their photographic source, obtained at last August’s HOWL Festival in the East Village. A hand written, unbroken line of text and data about recent genetic developments threaded through the images, leading the viewer to the gallery garden, where an 11 foot sculpture completed the experience.  “OMNI SERIES” refers to “Omphalus,” another word for navel and in Greek mythology, a totem regarded as the center of the earth.

“The umbilical cord was once the core of our existence/nourishment and our most profound human bond,” says Twomey. “It also contains the stem cells that help shape our destiny with their unique genetic code.”

At the opening, a live camera collected new image samples of people/navels to enrich the exhibition source.  These new images of navels were digitized so that one person is seen through another’s filter, suggestive of genetic cloning and in keeping with Twomey’s interest in our self-identity.  A DVD displayed the metamorphosis of navels to universes as a reflection of the infinite diversity of the stem cells.

A related panel discussion, also entitled, “Art and Genetics in a Digital Age,” took place on Friday, May 21, 2004, at Artists Talk on Art. Chris Twomey moderated this discussion, which also featured artist and author Suzanne Anker, artists Steve Miller and Kevin Clarke, and Columbia U. geneticist Dr. Max Gottesman.

Chris Twomey has exhibited widely throughout the United States, and received awards from the Ford Foundation, Creative Artists Project Service, Kitchen Center, Santa Fe Art Institute, and American Film Institute. Twomey recently exhibited a multi-media solo exhibition entitled "MADONNA SERIS" at Tribes Gallery in 2006, receiving reviews in “Art in America,” “The Scientist,” “Art and Science Collaborations, Inc.” and NYArts Magazine. To see more, visit  www.christwomey.com  Chris received an MFA from Pratt Institute and a BFA from Ramapo College, and also attended Reed College.

Contact: Chris Twomey 212-505-0486 or email christwomey@earthlink.net