Nathan Meltz: The Utopia Machine

Artist Statement

Part critique, part fascination, the art I create examines the infiltration of technology into every facet of our lives, from family and food to politics and war. Nightmarish industrial creations are set against images of grand mechanical constructions, an off-kilter vision of technology. In my visual vocabulary, the contemporary world of nanotechnology and genetic modification is retrofitted with collaged analog machine parts. Collages of mechanical humanoids and animals turn into printmaking, animation, and sculpture, as I create visual narratives telling the story of a doomed robotic populace in a techno-dystopia. My current body of work investigates technology’s role in utopian movements. One branch of research involves fantastical narratives of animals, plants, and fungi seeking to escape Earth for a more sustainable climate. The other involves representations of the mythical jewish golem, the original automaton summoned by magic to protect against oppression. Both branches seek to answer the question as to whether our technologies have made for better worlds or worse.

BIO

Nathan Meltz uses printmaking, animation, sculpture, and performance to comment on the infiltration of technology into every facet of life, from politics and food, to family and war.

His solo exhibitions include the gallery at Atelier Presse Papier, Trois-Rivières, Canada, the Shircliff Gallery at Vincennes University, Indiana, Southern Illinois University’s Vergette Gallery, GRIDSPACE (NYC), the University of Florida – Jacksonville’s Andrew Brest Gallery, and Noise Gallery (OH). His international exhibitions include the International Print Center in New York, the 16th International Printmaking Triennial Graphica Creativa Triennial, Jyväskylä Art Museum, Finland, the Museum of Modern Art in Rio De Janiero, Brazil, and more. His art has been featured in publications including Art in Print, Printeresting, and the Mid-America Print Council Journal. His series “Strangling the Fascist Viper” has received juror awards from the Louisiana International Printmaking Exhibition and the Political Impressions exhibition at the Rochester Institute of Technology, the Printworks Award from Artists Image Resource, Pittsburgh PA, and the Prix de Print award from Art in Print Magazine.

His current body of research involving ecologies has been included in an article published in the California Society of Printmakers Journal and exhibited in many venues, including the Four Rivers Printmaking Biennial, where he was awarded an honorable mention award,and the Trois-Rivières International Printmaking Biennial, Canada, where he was given the Prix de Presse Papier award. Meltz is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of the Arts at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, and is the founder and curator of the Screenprint Biennial.

Courthouse Gallery
1 Lower Amherst Street
Lake George, NY 12845
518-668-2616

Hours:
Wednesday – Friday: 12:00 – 5:00
Saturday: 12:00 – 4:00
Sunday, February 4, 2024: 1:00 – 4:00

For exhibition information or to schedule a visit outside of gallery hours
please contact
June Waters
Director of Exhibitions
june@lakegeorgearts.org
518-668-2616