Tate Liverpool
23 April – 23 October 2005
Tate Liverpool has commissioned an exciting new work to complement the special exhibition Summer of Love: Art of the Psychedelic Era (which opens on 27 May 2005). assume vivid astro focus is both the pseudonym of a New York-based Brazilian artist, who prefers to remain anonymous, and the title given to the artist’s wide-ranging aesthetic project. In the past this has encompassed a broad range of different media, including video projections, wallpaper, T-shirts, tattoos, large scale installations and, at times, collaborations with other artists. assume vivid astro focus has shown at the Whitney Biennial, 2004 and Frieze Art Fair, 2004.
assume vivid astro focus’ works incorporate motifs from popular culture, fine art and ancient civilisations, combining them to create new meanings. The work follows a strategy that is akin to music sampling but which is also reminiscent of 1960s eclecticism and the 1920s Brazilian Anthropofagist movement which advocated cultural cannibalism. Frequently the aim of this optimistic project is to stimulate a shared state of being or ‘sensorial’ experience (to use the terminology of the influential Brazilian artist Helio Oiticica) as in Make It With You: A Slow Dance Club 2004, a room avaf created for people to dance in to romantic music.