Doug Aitken, 1968

Born in 1968 in California, Doug Aitken studied magazine illustration at the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, graduating in 1991. Producing works in the fields of sculpture, photography, video, and sound, Aitken often collaborates with visual artists and popular names in the film and music industry. According to Aitken, all creative thoughts are part of a single larger dialogue, even though they constitute different styles of expression or forms of production.

Constantly asking the question “What is creativity in the 21st century?”, the artist reminds us that production and thought are not linear and that the human mind and memory (and creativity) come together as fragmented segments. While this entails continuous change and juxtaposition, it also positions Aitken as an artist on a quest to explore humanity. Devoting much of his attention to being human and to the realities of collective life in the modern world, the artist uses his work to emphasize how concepts of time, space, and memory are changeable.

In Aitken’s works composed of graphic texts, we notice words such as Now, End, Speed, You, One, Bad, Space, and Home. Through these works, Aitken crystallizes the meaning of words that are repeated or questioned in modern life. In some of these works, the surfaces are mirrors, in others they are covered with diverse images, such as the sea, leaves, planets, or black and white photographs. The artist freezes an idea or word in fluid time and makes it still. As is the case in “BAD”, works having a mirrored surface give viewers the sensation of peering through a kaleidoscope. When we look through a kaleidoscope, the reflection of light forms colorful patterns. When we rotate a kaleidoscope, the image we see constantly changes and non-repeating images appear. In this work, too, the light of one moment is never the same as that of another moment. The time of the work and the conditions of the space within which it is displayed constantly change. Aitkin thus addresses the difficulty of holding on to an idea or image in today’s dynamic and rapidly transforming world.