bio . artist's statement . designer's statement . manifesto

Bio

Andrew Y. Ames is a new media artist and designer that plays and plays with games. Games, his work shows, are cultural artifacts that not only entertain and instruct, but epitomize the societies that created them. His modifications bend the rules and reinvent board, video, and card games in unexpected ways that invite critical reflection on consumerism, politics, technology, and media. Andrew graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design (MFA in Digital+Media) the University of Denver (BFA in Electronic Media Arts and Design) and Red Rocks Community College (AA in Multimedia Design Technology and Animation). Currently he teaches game design at the Cloud Foundation and the Digital Media Academy and is an instructor at the New England Institute of Art. He has exhibited at Sol Koffler Gallery, Core New Art Space, NYCResistor, Neo Studios, Denver West and 5th Floor Studios. This spring he co-curated a vintage gaming exhibit with Nick Montfort for the Boston Cyberarts Festival. Past curatorial projects Andrew has worked with Miguel Tarango developing "the Cheat," together they also created Denver’s first digital gallery, Potential Cloud Formations. Fylkingen’s journal, Hz and Gamasutra.com, recently published his thesis, “Games: the Art of Making, Bending and Breaking Rules.”

bio . artist's statement . designer's statement . manifesto

Art

I seek to understand and to create art that invites interaction and completion. My art explores and expresses relationships and identity (whether abstract or portrait), and it is not finished until the viewer is changed or accepts an invitation to change the work.

          In my most recent work I am exploring the viewer/artist and creator/conceptualist relationships. These subjects intrigue me as an artist and a collaborator. I seek to challenge the traditional viewer/artist roles by creating opportunities for the viewer to contribute to the overall work. I am also exploring the creator/conceptualist roles, and by taking my hand off the work and inviting participation, I prompt the viewer to consider the question, “Who is the artist: the person who conceives or envisions the work, or the person who creates or fabricates the work?” My “art about art” is interactive, and in future explorations I would like to push the interactivity and to design an entire space that allows viewers to contribute as well as to become part of the art as they work through it.

          In my self-portraiture I explore my past and present. Self-portraits reflect existence; they are artifacts, evidence, and documentation of individual evolution and growth, and they merge image and concept. Currently my image-based portraits focus on the shape of the face, are high contrast to facilitate the study the lines, and are becoming graphic noir. My conceptual portraits include text-based art, game mods, and websites to be explored and deciphered by viewers as mini narratives.

          Recently I have experimented with interactive space, and emotive narrative; past explorations have used interactive sites, printmaking, and installations.

bio . artist's statement . designer's statement . manifesto

Design

My electronic design practice stems from fundamentals in printmaking, drawing and found objects, allowing me to view the computer as an artistic tool for communicative and conceptual expression. My artistic strength lies in the ability to view a project from more than one angle – foresight of the how and why of design forces ideas to evolve, allowing for multiple solutions and creating an idea beyond the basic answer. This approach proves that in realizing a project, I assimilate ideas to yield design that is pure and exact at every point of the creative process.

bio . artist's statement . designer's statement . manifesto

Manifesto

I wrote this "manifesto" back in 2003 I think of it now simply as things I believe and advice for anyone that happens upon it.

• Never stop exploring
• Keep things simple stupid (KISS)
• Value the opinions of others
• Enjoy yourself
• What works best for you may not work best for someone else
• Be open-minded
• Evolve
• Facades don't last
• Don't be defensive
• Have faith in something
• There is always more out there
• Don't be intimidated by something new or foreign
• There will always be someone better, knowing this should just make you try harder, not feel bad.
• In fact find those that are better, they will push you the furthest
• Art is never finished only abandoned
• Question everything