‘Exploring the Unknown’ by Boris Pelcer
I see myself as a visual explorer that craves to journey into the unknown! I seek to explore that which seems to plague my thoughts: Why am I? Who am I? Why do I exist? What brings me pleasure? What do I truly understand about myself and everything else on this pale blue dot floating in infinity? What is reality? Is there anything beyond this reality? How about things like consciousness, unconsciousness, emotions, thoughts, dreams, imagination, concepts, language and energy, just how much do I really understand these intangible things that are both abstract and at the same time allow me to contemplate, and express myself through these words you are reading, and through my artwork that you are seeing. I find it truly fascinating that something as intangible as thoughts, emotions and imagination can become tangible in some way through my artwork. That is why I create, to visually explore and capture that something which resides beyond comprehension, symbolic language and this material world. It is my way of contemplating this human condition. However, this understanding as to why I create and what compels me to create wasn’t always clear.
There is a particular moment of clarity that happened in February of 2012 that created a drastic change in my creative direction. It seemed that everything that I was creating up to that point was lacking something. Once in a while I’ve created work that got closer to that something that felt right, but I was not able to articulate or rationalize what that something was. Because I didn’t understand what that something was that felt right, I wasn’t able to successfully and consistently capture it in my work. However, in February of 2012, a year and a half into my MFA study, after months of frustration, I finally realized what my work lacked; it lacked an authentic connection to me, the creator of the work.
That is when I first embraced the idea of creating work that is honest to who I am, and create work that strives to the best of my ability to reflect my deep thoughts and emotions, even if they are strange and dark. I also understood, that if I am to create work that is authentic to who I am, I had to look inwards, and become self-critical. But rather than try to understand myself first and then create the work that is authentic to who I am, I decided that I would strive to use my work as part of the process in attempting to better understand myself. That also meant that as time went on and I grew as an individual, my work would grow with me. Each piece would offer a peek into who I was at the time of creating that particular piece.
The exciting part of experiencing that epiphany in February of 2012, is the fact that I’ve only been creating work based around the overarching theme of “exploring the unknown” for less than 5 years. That means that the best work is ahead of me, there is so much to explore and so much to create! I’m not sure how my work will look like, but I know that I will still be exploring the uncharted territories. Surely, there is a lot to be learned as well. My first solo show will be a great opportunity to combine everything I’ve learned in the last 4 and a half years, and put it all into one enjoyable but surreal body of work. It is titled “Reverie”, and it will be at the Nucleus Portland Gallery, from July 15. 2017 to August 10. 2017, with opening reception on July 15. 6pm – 9pm.
