Play Chandelier, 2015
6817, Los Angeles

Press Release:

A mirror-ball motor rotates a 16-foot, crudely constructed screw-lift, raising a billiard ball to begin its course along a series of slanting planes. It travels at varying speeds along precarious assemblages of found objects and sculptural elements, making contact with musical instruments in the process. Pedistal fans become composers, their constant oscillation is experienced audibly in gentle cyclical patterns. A projection of two iPhones videoing each other in 'selfie mode' illuminates the corner of the room with a pulsing, rhythmic glow. Each component of the work generates its own feedback loop within the overall arrangement.

Barretto's paintings utilize the paint, finish and hardware of a classic electric guitar. Jack plates, pick guards, buttons and guitar cables are idiosyncratically composed to create 'marks' on the slick, glossy base of guitar paint (automotive urethane). Some are more sparsely configured while others comprise guitar leads which plug into the painting at each end - suggesting a closed circuit within the work. The absence of electricity running through the works and their subsequent impossibility of creating music suggests an attention toward ocular composition out of materials usually used to articulate an audible composition.