Glenn Kaino

This work is part of a series of infinity mirror sculptures Glenn Kaino created as part of an homage to Olympian Tommie Smith, whose silent protest at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City became an international triumph for Black civil rights, and an international scandal for the sporting community. After winning the 200-meter men’s race and becoming the first runner ever to break the 20-second barrier in the contest, Smith, along with Bronze Medal winner John Carlos, took the medal stand, bowed their heads solemnly, and raised their fists high in the air in the Black Power salute. The protest made Smith and Carlos heroes to many, and outlaws to many more. They suffered relentlessly throughout their careers because of the silent protest. The infinite reflection created in this piece creates a golden path into the present, but connects to the past—a spectacular reconciliation of a historic record, an individual memory, and a public symbol.

Glenn Kaino’s flag series began with pure white recreations of the American flag, tie-dyed with a Civil War-era tarring solution. Simply left alone, the fabric heats up as the oxidation of the chemicals creates an exothermic reaction. The spontaneous combustion is a symbolic representation of the volatile nature of this time of crisis. The resulting pattern is a beautifully poignant image of concentric circles, a target, alternating black, tan, and white. Under the light of examination, the shadows that the flags cast represent the American flag as clear and pristine as a new flag might—a poetic reminder that even during our most unstable and explosive time, the ideals that exist within our concept of our country might still be preserved.

Glenn Kaino is a conceptual artist based in Los Angeles. By integrating innovative methodologies with established art historical traditions, Kaino orchestrates spectacular aesthetic phenomena that engage with and offer critical commentary on the collective contemporary consciousness.

 

Kaino’s oeuvre is omnidisciplinary. It predominantly includes sculpture, painting, filmmaking, performance, installation, and large-scale public work. But since his practice is fundamentally idea based, Kaino is committed to engaging any techniques, processes, materials, tools, technologies, environments, or collaborators necessary to manifest the concept at hand.

 

As an art student in the 1990s at UC Irvine and UC San Diego, Kaino adopted a layered, philosophical approach to art making, founded on the primacy of ideas. Simultaneously, he immersed himself in the study of computers and digital technology. His dual, high-level grasp of creativity and technology have brought Kaino into the orbit of influential figures within the broader culture and resulted in multiple noteworthy professional opportunities within the internet, entertainment, and communications industries.

 

Kaino's extraordinary life experiences have endowed him with a deep understanding of the importance of effective, cross-platform storytelling, especially as it relates to the construction of new myths. He possesses unique insight into both the value and the dangers of our age—the Information Age, an era defined by multitasking, data analyses, systems and networks, and obsessive connectivity. Drawing on his critical assessment of this fascinating, yet often troubling, phase in human development, he has developed an aesthetic vision that places him on the vanguard of a new age: the alternative, emergent present of the Imagination Age, when creativity supersedes technology as the driver of human experience

 

Major solo exhibitions of Kaino’s work have been presented at the High Museum of Art; the San Jose Museum of Art; Contemporary Art Center Cincinnati; Studio Museum in Harlem; Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego; Andy Warhol Museum; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth; Artpace San Antonio; and REDCAT, Los Angeles. Kaino’s work has been featured in Desert X, the 13th International Cairo Biennale, the 12th Biennale de Lyon, Performa (2009), the 2004 California Biennial at the Orange County Museum of Art, the 2004 Whitney Biennial, and Prospect.3, New Orleans. Kaino’s work is included in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Orange County Museum of Art, Hammer Museum, and Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.

 

Kaino is also an Emmy- and Webby Award-winning producer and documentarian. His films have been featured at the Tribeca Film Festival and SXSW.