Film still from Jeremy Couillard's Fuzz Spiral. Courtesy the artist.
(NEW YORK, NY — September 21, 2021) — Times Square Arts, the largest public platform for contemporary performance and visual arts, is pleased to present Fuzz Spiral by Jeremy Couillard for the month of October as part of the organization’s signature Midnight Moment series in partnership with Daata. Midnight Moment is the world’s largest, longest-running digital art exhibition, synchronized on over 75 electronic billboards throughout Times Square nightly from 11:57pm to midnight.
Fuzz Spiral (2021) depicts a rat-dog witch playing a futuristic video game with a reptilian mutant. A hypnagogic machine placed between these two characters becomes a swirling vortex that sucks them into a phantasmagorical simulation where they take on different forms and styles while travelling through different levels of a surreal gamespace. This video work transports the viewer into a fantastical urban landscape of color and light, not unlike the bright lights of Times Square itself.
In conjunction with Couillard’s Midnight Moment, Daata will present Sasquatch Sex Amulet and Other Objects from the Fuzz Spiral, an online exhibition and merch store which serves as a continuation of Couillard’s Fuzz Spiral universe. The exhibition comprises unique and limited edition artworks, NFTs, exclusive Infinite Objects, t-shirts, tote bags, baseball caps, USB drives, scarves, prints on aluminium and original drawings on paper from Couillard’s New York gallery, Denny Dimin. Sasquatch Sex Amulet and Other Objects from the Fuzz Spiral reflects on the site of the screening: Times Square, a place totemic of the hyper-commercialised world of 24-hour capitalism in which we exist, where neither stock markets nor street hawkers are subject to natural circadian rhythms.
“In June 2021 I released a video game called Fuzz Dungeon. In the game you play as a Rat Dog Witch whose aim is to retrieve a Sasquatch Sex Amulet for a group of imaginary detectives so that you can go back to the life you had before you ascended a well and became stuck in a cave. I also made a 3-minute animation from the video game that will play in Times Square in October every night at midnight. It is called Fuzz Spiral,” said Jeremy Couillard. “This exhibition is a little store of digital and physical objects that relate to the world inside the video game and reflect on the panoramic screening of the gameworld in the nighttime atmosphere of the hyper commercialized, bright light whirl of Times Square. I haven’t been going beyond the confines of my work/home borders much lately. When I meet new people it’s hard to get much of a conversation going beyond the news or weather or real estate. Maybe if I had a shirt with a monster on it or a tote with a question or bold statement to turn the small talk into something more nuanced? Maybe new connections can still happen and stop everything from spiraling away into a fuzzy mess.”
The cosmology of the world seems at once distant, but also analogous to our daily lives: oscillating between wonder and awe; confusion and uncertainty. The player never knows where they will go next and with whom, but keeps moving. Educated as a painter, Couillard is a self-taught new media artist who has made numerous well-received and internationally exhibited video, virtual reality, and video game works, accompanied by installations, paintings, and ephemera. His works often deploy humorous narratives about future dystopias to explore what motivates us as humans to work, live, and create.
“Daata greatly admires Times Square Arts’ groundbreaking vision and commitment to integrating art into the urban fabric. We are excited to be collaborating in presenting Jeremy’s game-like universe in Times Square alongside a wider ecosystem of the artist’s artworks, including NFTs, merchandise and collectibles. Daata’s aim is always to place the artist at the centre of every project, and this partnership with Times Square Arts allows for conversations to happen with the broadest possible audience,” said David Gryn, Director and founder of Daata
ABOUT JEREMY COUILLARD
Jeremy Couillard, (b. 1980, Livonia, MI) lives and works in New York City. He graduated in 2012 from Columbia University with an MFA in painting. Recent solo shows and commissions include Fuzz Dungeon, Denny Dimin Gallery, New York; Self Portrait As A Dingus, The Bass x Daata, Miami; ALIEN AFTERLIFE, yours mine & ours, New York; Totem 1.0, Art Los Angeles Contemporary, Los Angeles; THE VISCOUS VALLEY, Zhulong Gallery, Dallas; and MY TIME IN THE CULT OF MELTING ANCESTORS, Louis B. James, New York. Couillard has exhibited internationally including The Rotterdam Film Festival, Rotterdam, Netherlands; Trafo, Szczecin, Poland; the David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center with Ben Hall, New York, NY. He recently completed a virtual reality video presented by the New Museum and Rhizome. Couillard’s work has been featured in Artforum, Frieze, VICE, Hyperallergic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Observer, Blouin ArtInfo, Art in America and more. In 2017 he was awarded the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship in Digital Media. Couillard is Professor of New Media at LaGuardia Community College in Queens, New York.
ABOUT DAATA
Founded in 2015, Daata is the leading online gallery for discovering, streaming and collecting digital artworks. Daata is a platform for experiencing the best contemporary digital art from the comfort of your own home. Daata commissions exclusive original artworks directly from emerging and established international artists as well as hosting world-renowned Gallery Partners. Daata has collaborated internationally with museums, collections, art fairs, festivals and other organisations including: NASA, Hammer Museum, Kiasma, Julia Stoschek Collection, The Bass, Helsinki Biennial, MOCAD, Art Basel, Frieze, EXPO CHICAGO, Phillips, Independent Art Fair, NADA, Art Fair Philippines, PHOTOFAIRS Shanghai, and Art Cologne.
Daata.art / instagram.com/daata.art / twitter.com/daataart
ABOUT TIMES SQUARE ARTS
Times Square Arts, the public art program of the Times Square Alliance, collaborates with contemporary artists and cultural institutions to experiment and engage with one of the world's most iconic urban places. Through the Square's electronic billboards, public plazas, vacant areas and popular venues, and the Alliance's own online landscape, Times Square Arts invites leading contemporary creators, such as Mel Chin, Tracey Emin, Jeffrey Gibson, Ryan McGinley, Yoko Ono, and Kehinde Wiley, to help the public see Times Square in new ways. Times Square has always been a place of risk, innovation and creativity, and the Arts Program ensures these qualities remain central to the district's unique identity.
PRESS CONTACTS
Times Square Arts:
Ali Rigo
Senior Account Executive, Cultural Counsel
ali@culturalcounsel.com
Catie DeWitt
Account Coordinator, Cultural Counsel
catie@culturalcounsel.com
Daata:
Nigel Rubenstein
St James Arts
nigel@stjames-arts.com
+44 (0) 7968 757436