Blue Husk (Primary Title)
Tony Oursler, American, born 1957 (Artist)
I see all media as being involved with a willing suspension of disbelief on the part of the viewer that does not end with the formation of the image—it continues into endless levels of interpretation. —Tony Oursler
One of today’s preeminent video artists, Oursler is best known for his video sculptures that redefine video art as a physical entity that exists in the world of the viewer.
Blue Husk combines Oursler’s interest in extreme psychological states with his other primary subject—mass media. The face of New York actress Tracy Leipold (who has provided the persona for numerous Oursler works) is projected onto a fiberglass form within a hand-blown glass “pod.” Leipold babbles and ruminates in an apparent stream of consciousness, but she in fact performs a script. Oursler based his text on extensive research into the history of radio and television and the phenomenon of psychics who claim to contact the dead using technology.
[1] Accessioned September 20, 2001. See VMFA Curatorial file.
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