MxCC presents Paul Qaysi: A Sea of Patterns Art Exhibition

Open from October 3 – November 1, 2012 with reception: Friday, October 5, 1:30–3 PM, Middlesex Community College proudly presents the churning, energetic works of Paul Qaysi.

In today’s anarchic media flux, governments and traditional media empires have lost much of
their power to dictate what we see and believe. This erosion is the subject of Paul Qaysi’s recent
work in which he scavenges, cuts, pastes and animates digital images from a variety of sources,
interrogating the production of authority and truth.

The Arab Spring uprisings flared up with the aid of digital technologies and social media.
Investigating these historic events in “Actual Dots”, Qaysi recycles, connects and dismantles
official images of recently overthrown dictators. Portrait stills captured from YouTube are
reduced to dot screens. The screens shift and dots enlarge, evoking newspapers, bullet holes and
abstract painting. The more close-up the images of these corrupt leaders, the more meaningless
they become. As the photos disintegrate, the floating dots form moiré patterns that briefly
resemble Islamic tile designs, and we hear a multi-track sound collage of passionate crowds. This is just one of the many thought-provoking works to be displayed at the Pegasus Gallery.

Paul Qaysi was born in 1963 in Baghdad, Iraq, and lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. He
received his B.F.A. in sculpture from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY and M.F.A. in Program in
Advanced Photographic Studies from Bard College-International Center of Photography in New
York, NY.

Pegasus Gallery is located within the library on the first floor of Chapman Hall at Middlesex Community College.