Here are a few pictures of Peter’s extraordinary light installations, a short statement posted on the occasion of his exhibition at MicroCoSM Gallery in May/June 2007, an article Alex wrote about his work, and a link to Peter’s website. http://www.terezakis.com
"... Peter Terezakis' light installation powerfully suggests heat lightning fragmenting the desert's night air..." -- The New York Times, 2000
Peter Terezakis has originated inter-active works of art varying in scale from simple jewelry-sized objects, to an interactive building designed in conjunction with Donald Trump's architect, Der Scutt. His works have been exhibited throughout the United States and abroad, including Canada, Greece, Japan, Latvia, Mexico, Portugal, and Romania. On the faculty of New York City's School of Visual Arts from 1993 to 2000, Terezakis co-created the Extended Forms major within the MFA Computer Art program.
FLASH OF RECOGNITION
The Soulful Technology of Peter Terezakis
by Alex Grey
Over ten years ago, I was intrigued by the objects of Peter Terezakis which combined minimalist forms with winking and blinking LED lights. Knowing the artist, and witnessing his artistic evolution, it is clear that his artwork embodies some of the most impressive aspects of his character. His enthusiasm and inventiveness, a balance of inner discipline (as evidenced by a black belt in Karate) and his technological wizardry have all been placed at the service of what can only be called a spiritual search through the practice of art. That his patriarchal ancestry includes a succession of Greek Orthodox priests should inform us that his search has long and deep roots. I came to know Peter shortly before the death of his father, easily Peter's most influential mentor. The Senior Terezakis was an independent soul who made the difficult decision to leave the priesthood. And so Peter works through a passionate dialectic in his work--between faith and doubt, the scientific mastery of materiality and the threatening dubiousness of materialism as an answer in itself.
From the beginning, Peter's works have involved "interactivity". Using biofeedback and robotic monitoring devices, from temperature sensitivity gauges to sound and motion detectors, his sculptures have been "armed" with the uncanny ability to sense and respond to the viewer. I have watched the fascination and delight of both adults and children as Terezakis's sculptures respond to them with some flash of recognition. Hiswired art transmits at least three levels of metaphor
(1.) Relationship - the importance of our ability to sense and mirror
each other, the human relationship of friendly communication.
(2.) Paranoia - the power, threat and alienation of technological
surveillance, our invasively monitored contemporary life caught in an
electronic mechanical web of "information" to be used by hidden
forces for good or ill.
(3.) Communion - the magic of another "subtle" reality, unseen but responding to our presence, or glimpsed in flashes of light.
Questions that have bedeviled science fiction writers and now designers of robotics and A.I. (artificial intelligence), such as whether a machine can exhibit intelligence or consciousness, seem to haunt Terezakis's work. "The ghost in the machine"... if a machine can become conscious, what does this say of the mechanicalness and materiality of our own spirit? Thus the questions of faith and doubt hover just below the surface of our delight with the visual beauty of a work by Terezakis.
His "All the Names of God" experiment was created to activate an apocalyptic Doomsday scenario possible only through today's web-linked downloadable mindscape. To me, this is Terezakis's most satisfying and threatening piece. Aesthetically, a flame responds to each name murmured, pointing back to the ancient minds who first saw and heard the voices and names of God as they gathered around their fires, hoping and seeking for solace against the threat of nature, and their own hardwired doomsday of biological destiny as wormfood.
At the risk of over-extending the "Greek"-ness of Peter's art, I would point back to the cradle of Western civilization and culture in the teachings and example of that great soul, Socrates. This pre-eminent Greek philosopher was known to be in communion with what he called his "daimon", an inner voice that he wrestled with and relied on as his fountain of wisdom. Likewise, each artist is inspired by a force beyond themselves, a daimon of creativity if you will, that they must wrestle into form. I have suggested that Peter Terezakis's machine/sculptures embody the struggles of faith and doubt, which may be the character of his particular "daimon". And like the two streams of wisdom that flowed from Socrates' great students, Plato, the mystic idealist, and Aristotle, a philosophical scientist focused on the "real" material world, Peter Terezakis's soulfully technological art exemplifies the struggles between the ideal and the real, the still living questions at the heart of our post-modern civilization.
Every full moon for the past five years Peter has created an
installation of fluorescent standing pillars of light on beaches, in deserts,
on native American reservations and in national parks. These pillars or columns have a
resonance with ancient Greek sacred architecture. Bridging earth and sky, ancient and technological, these
installations represent both the threatening invasion of techno-industrial
culture into the pristine wilderness and the metaphor of enlightened presence
linking the Promethean creative force that reaches heavenward, stealing the
light of the Gods.
Alex and Allyson with our dear friend, Peter Terezakis
Blessings on your path, Peter!
You will certainly be missed by all. I'll never forget all the kind guidance and support you provided during my time at CoSM. If your life is anything like your art, your path will be luminous, and I am thrilled for you!
Love and warmth!
Posted by: Tina Grecchi | May 04, 2009 at 05:00 AM