Artwork title : Family Gathering

In Family Gathering by Geist Topping, viewers are invited to break down the assumed barriers between the act of creation and the object created. The artist presents us with both a physical and a video of the process of creating the work and encourages us to not view them as distinct, but rather as two parts of a congruous whole. The physical aspect of the piece comes off of the wall, disrupting the presumed passivity of painting and has the piece straddle the boundary between hanging art and object. The end of the fabric is put on the ground to place viewers in the same position as those who took part in the creation of the piece. This positioning encourages spectators to imagine themselves as active participants and not just idle onlookers. The video presents a record of the creation of the artwork and is to be viewed as an aesthetic object in and of itself. Viewers watch as four generations of the artist’s family work cyclically to create a communal piece of artwork. By slowing down the video, the artist encourages viewers to closely observe each individual's unique mannerisms and creative modalities.