Statement Using different amounts and expressions of agency, my artwork illustrates the flow of power and the patterns of people's movements and speech. Rather than being a performer, actor, or social sculptor, my task is instead to be scenario-starter. For many of my works, viewers are not just lookers or passive observers. It is up to them as participants to step in and enact the work and build it to a complete form. My own agency has a role, but the participants’ engagement completes the work. I might lend myself out as an assistant, assert control and perform an action only to give it up for others to tend to, or simply prompt a conversation in which the present powers calmly explore, or conflict, with one another.
My work creates places or prompts for small groups or pairs to talk to each other. Oftentimes these scenarios allow them to engage in the closeness of their own bonds while simultaneously exploring how other aspects of their life affect their methods of communication. A slight shift in the location of the conversation, such as turning a couch towards a wall, changes one’s perception and way of looking while talking to a partner. Physical spatial structures and immaterial rules or expectations impact not just how the body moves and interacts with space, but also the pattern of speech acts.
Rules and systems of regulation transform a space into a place. These rules can be warm and personal, illustrating a bond. They can be colder and more impersonal, illustrating formalities. Or these rules and expectations can be a myriad of feelings and expectations that are in between and can even cause conflict. My work turns many of these invisible rules into something tangible for viewers to navigate.
Bio Josh Elston lives in Buffalo, NY and received his MFA from University at Buffalo in the State University of New York in May 2019. Prior to moving to Buffalo, he lived in Michigan and completed his undergrad in Art and Art History at Central Michigan University in 2017.