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Mike Geary, Boone Native, Exhibits at Lump Gallery in Raleigh Through May 19th

“Hyperstition,” the latest exhibition from Boone native, Mike Geary, opened at Lump Gallery on April 9 and continues through May 15. 

“Anything that removes the crippling nature of decision making, I’m a big fan of,” says Team Lump bad boy, Mike Geary according to the Lump website. The title of his show refers to the experimental science of self-fulfilling prophecies. As opposed to a superstition, which is simply a belief paired with magical thinking, a hyperstition functions to manifest its own reality through specific methods. Geary’s personal hyperstition employs the generative techniques he uses to create improvised, modular music; he allows the machine and the method take over as a kind of low brow, artificial intelligence that manifests its own reality. 

In this exhibition, Geary takes that idea a step farther with a series reverse-painted on the back of plexiglass. By using devised systems and self-imposed rules, he eliminates some aesthetic decisions and creates a process that resembles an artificial intelligence. In the artist’s words, “Not relying or falling back on these overused personal tropes removes part of the artist’s hand and allows each piece, in its structural nature, to partially create itself and manifest itself into materiality.” The result is a series of acute, abstract paintings that present an invigorating exchange between cool control and unfettered madness.

Lump Gallery is located at 505 S. Blount Street, Raleigh, NC. Gallery hours are: Friday – Sunday:  1:00pm – 6:00pm. For more information, call: 919-390-1445 or visit the gallery website at lumpprojects.org.