Countdown to Entropy

Countdown to Entropy

Drawings and animation by Louis Watts
January 13th through February 19th

First Friday reception, February 3rd, 6-9pm

Louis brings us a series of drawings that allude to the emotionless eye of HAL 9000. Mesmeric forces are at play in each, all-seeing orb, two of which are animated – slowly rotating in concentric circles that confound and hypnotize in the same moment. But closer scrutiny reveals that each of these works is created from thousands of minuscule, hand-drawn hashtags. This seemingly infinite repetition points an accusatory finger at social media and all of its brain-dulling tactics. It’s an old sentiment, to say that technology is out of sync with our humanity. But so is the computer; old, I mean. Louis’s concern goes beyond Instagram and the smartphone or the latest meme. He sees an algorithmic drive toward mediocrity, forever spinning inward, toward what we already know is a very lonely place.