R. Eric McMaster

Lives and works in Austin, TX, USA

Artist statement

I disrupt the familiar using materiality, context, or space as a way to highlighting absence, humor, and/or awe. Often, athletes, performers, and/or experiences are jolted or shifted in some way, be it environmental, situational or through interaction with an object. I have a truly interdisciplinary practice and my work has involved multiple sports teams, Olympic-bound figure skaters, professional baseball and football players, elite musicians and composers. I often have performers execute their routines in a different context. As they struggle to find their grounding and get back to what they know, we watch. We see the awkward gap between potential and reality. The performer’s humanity is revealed; we can relate to their discomfort. As viewers, we experience the familiar disrupted and we often can’t clearly categorize the experience. It generates moments of wonder or absurdity, sometimes at the same time. I’ve worked with musicians to accompany the acoustic environments and enhance landscapes. I’ve expanded and compressed the way music is played or experienced. I’ve created objects that shift our perception through materiality. Videos have framed specific moments that suspend our assumptions. With dislocated performances, images, and/or objects, we do a double-take in an attempt to comprehend. Reframing or distorting the familiar shifts our understanding and we can start to register an unnamable thing that is often missing from our vocabulary.

Artwork