Artist's statement: Amy Kaps
Conceived in Columbus, Ohio, born in Brooklyn, New York, raised in suburban New Jersey, schooled in Upstate New York and Japan and Los Angeles, having at various times resided in Manhattan and Köln, Germany, I presently live and work in Venice, California.
My art, my world, my life is multi-faceted.
I break it down and put it back together.
Color. Space. Time. Emotion. Thought.
Elements are re-imagined to create a new whole.
After acquiring a degree in Psychology, I headed back to New York City where by day I was the assistant to an art management consultant, and by night a performance artist, singer and club kid. This continued until I soon moved to Germany where I proceeded to explore my boundaries and the museums of Europe . There I concentrated on music and performance art and practiced radio and television journalism. I am also particularly proud of the fact that I learned to tap a keg of beer.
Upon returning to the states 13 years later, I shifted my focus to film. This seemed to be a culmination of all my previous endeavors. Encountering my own limitations, I enrolled in film school where I attained the technical knowledge that I sought. And then, while stumbling along learning to use my video camera, I discovered a visual vocabulary generated by the actual subject as well as the manipulation of the camera. Working with exposure and built-in digital effects, the results were like abstract impressionist paintings. Dreamlike images - images that the eyes do not see in real time and space.
Photographs capture moments in time, whereas video captures these moments moving in time. I have applied digital effects in the camera as well as in Post-Production. I have interlaced and de-interlaced images as well as layered them. This allows us to see elements of the world from an altered perspective. What we see remains real however our perception is manipulated. Each still frame has a distinct time code, a specific mathematical location within time and space. I have also been known to appropriate imagery, which I then use to my advantage by accentuating and refashioning its salient features. What we see in this way is familiar but also provokes us to reach into the subconscious to finish the picture. And in the end, it's all about making beautiful pictures.
Performance Art and Film are almost without limitation. Therefore, I continue to combine live action with multi-media to create something that is of the present. In this way, all the senses can be reached as well as the emotional and psychological synapses. Stimulation and provocation of thought and emotion are my intention as is the proliferation of beauty in the banal.
AMY KAPS
PHOTO/FILM/VIDEO/PERFORMANCE ART
1959 Born in Brooklyn, NY, USA
Conceived in Columbus, Ohio, born in Brooklyn, NY, raised in suburban New Jersey, schooled in up state NY, LA and Japan, lived in New York, New Jersey, Köln/Germany and presently in Venice/California.
Education LA Film School, Certificate in Directing & Editing
UCLA Extension, Department of Entertainment Studies
Skidmore College, BS in Psychology
A selected list of exhibitions, installations, performances, productions and events:
2005 Divas of Venice
In celebration of the Venice Centennial
SPARC, Venice, CA
LA ARTFEST
Downtown Los Angeles
StudioTour
The American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) and (NEWH)
Venice, CA
Get it off your Chest
Orange County Center for Contemporary Art
Women in the Arts International Juried Exhibition
Santa Ana, CA
Create:Fixate
”Liberate Your Perception”
Spring Arts Tower LA, CA
2004 Träum Weiter
Kunstgruppe e.V.
The Lover’s Club Köln, Germany
Hollywood Bowl Sphere Art Project
Track 16 Bergamot Station Santa Monica, CA
Cause and Effect Gallery Torrance, CA
Litany of Lovers
A multi-media-live action performance piece
Living into: Rainbow, Unicorns and Everything we f*cking hate!
Solids at Q-topia Hollywood, CA
OVERWROUGHT An Expression of the Post Baroque Experience
Stark-Kikuchi Gallery Venice, CA
2002 Animal, Vegetable, Mineral-Found.01
Video Installation
The Sandbox Gallery Venice, CA
The Poodles Point of View
LA Freewaves Festival, TV or not TV
2001 seven/eleven part I
A multi-media-live action performance piece
Moments of Transparency
Hollywood Athletic Club Hollywood, CA
2000 The Silicon Valley Rush
Short Film
Salvation at the Altar of IT
Short Film
AMY KAPS
PHOTO/FILM/VIDEO/PERFORMANCE ART
1999 Decent Exposure
A video magazine for modern living - mini-DV+Super-8
The Media Room
Installation in collaboration with Diana Hobstetter
WCA National Conference, LA, CA
1998 The Poodle’s Point of View
Short Film
Developmental Acumen
Skychurch 2000 Temple of Spoken Word
Glaxa Silverlake, CA
If I were a rich man and Hawaii 5-O
Performances with live music
Kabaret Kiki Silverlake Lounge, LA, CA
Rituals for Modern Living
KMPP Lounge, Hollywood, CA
1997 Featured Artist “Projector 97”
Onyx Cafe Los Feliz, CA
1996 Poolside
Short Film
Winner of a Golden Nippes, Köln/Germany
Bug Bites
A performance based on insects and covert means of observation
Spaceland Silverlake, CA
Water
A performance based on the forms and force of the element water
Private Party Mar Vista, CA
A Visitor from Venus II
A performance merging with a mural by Jon Planas
Absolut On-line/Jon Planas
Human Ant Farm Venice, CA
Vita Sexualis
An attempt to stimulate all the senses
Glaxa Studios Silverlake, CA
1995 A Visitor from Venus
The Comet Club Long Beach, CA
Decent Exposure II
Cafe Contact-An Art Bordello
XX Köln, Germany
Decent Exposure
Damaged Goods Series
Glaxa Studios Silverlake, CA
Prismatic People
A Short film in praise of international friendship
amykaps@comcast.net or www.amykaps.com