RICHARD ALPERT

Statement about work

I have been interested in the use of sound generated by different means as a component of much of my work, i.e., a spinning bicycle wheel played with a rosined stick, the incessant rhythmic sound of a hand cranked generator, the different qualities of the human voice. I have used sound as a physical material much the same as traditional sculptural materials. I have applied the ideas, conventions and methods normally used to construct and form object art to this sound material. I am intrigued with the fluid manner in which sound occupies space and how it can be used to regulate awareness of the passage of time, as well as the connotations of its qualities and how it can be used to carry information or be the information carried. Much of the performance work that I have done draws its content from autobiographical material as it applies to being an artist, and has incorporated into it these aspects of audio material. Most recently, I have been concerned with the sound of spoken language: the impact which words and phrases, accents and dialects have on our understanding of the creative thinking process, and how they are indicators of a filtration of Western culture from east to west.

Statement about S.F.A.I

I think that the most valuable thing that was offered to me by the Art Institute was the direct contract that it gave me with practicing artists. Most interesting to me was being able to be exposed to the thinking that went into making the art work of both the faculty and invited guest artists.

May 29, 1980