James Clar studied film and animation at New York University and received his Masters from NYU’s Interactive Telecommunication’s Program.

His work uses controlled light and sculptural light systems to analyze the effects of technology on our perception of reality, time, and space. As technology has permeated through our daily lives these systems have altered the way we receive information and relay our thoughts. Technology allows for new forms of communication; however every system enhances certain types of information while limiting and simplifying others. These modulated effects and alterations to our perception have become the thematic focus to his works.

Light and color are controlled to create the impression of space and imagery, often to the subject of the digitization of physical reality. The films and television we watch are largely computer generated, yet we don’t call them animations or take notice of their synthetic nature. We accept them as a form of reality and we’ve become accustomed to existing within the uncanny valley. The majority of our daily experience and information comes from the artificial light sources of our screens and phones, shifting our habitat from the physical space around us to the non-physical space of online digital systems. This gray area formulates the conceptual basis of Clar’s practice.