Justin Hoover

Bio

Justin Hoover is a Bay Area artist, curator, and producer of culture. Hoover's time based works create a transaction between the viewer and the work, enabling the viewer to engage in new social and relational dynamics. Hoover holds masters degrees in the Public Administration of International Management (MPA) from the Monterey Institute of International Studies, as well as is a candidate for an MFA in New Genres from the San Francisco Art Institute (candidate 2009). Recent projects include The Garage Biennale, and numerous shows at Mission 17, Johansson Projects, Swarm Gallery, Art Engine, and Ping Pong Gallery, Queen's Nail Annex (11/2), and will soon be launching the Garage Biennale 2008.

Statement

In the contemporary fast paced world of instantaneous gratification and digitally mediated social relations, the histories of our elders, along with the face to face means of exchanging these profound histories are often lost. Numerous artists leave material evidence of their existence, however, countless people allow their histories to be swallowed by the passage of time. This creates a relationship between those who are remembered and those who are forgotten. To celebrate and construct memory of my grandmother is to produce culture based on developing communal memory. In this work, I invite you to engage her, ask her questions, and exchange histories and personages.

In this manifestation, of Helium Heritage, I propose to use 84 balloons (one for each one of her years of life so far). On one side I will print the flag on the country in which she lived along with a picture of her age at that time. This will give a temporal dimension in narrative form to this work of social sculpture and relational aesthetics. Everyone who engages my grandmother in speech is given a balloon. After the opening, 84 new balloons with prints will be created for the exhibition. My grandmother Tamara Liu was born in Blogovieshink Russia, fled the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, traveled through China in search of destination, and eventually went to Taiwan when Mao took over the Republic of China from Cheng Kai Sheck. Now she is 84 and lives in San Francisco, with her family. She is the matriarch of an American family.