carmen menza
ABOUT THE ARTIST
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Carmen Menza is an interdisciplinary artist creating fine art and technology based installations utilizing light, painting, interactive software, music composition and sound design. Her work explores themes of time, space, color, perception and human connection. Her public and commercial installations have been created for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, Dallas, TX, the McKinney Avenue Contemporary Museum, Dallas, TX, Dallas Aurora Light & Sound Festival, UTSW Clements University Hospital, Dallas, TX, Baylor Dallas Hospital, Dallas, TX, Baylor Ft. Worth Hospital, Ft. Worth, TX, Carneal Simmons Contemporary Art, Dallas, TX and more. Her films have screened at the Dallas International Film Festival, Dallas Video Festival, Austin Film Festival and the KERA Public television show - Frame of Mind. She is a TACA 2019 New Works Fund Grant recipient, a Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs - Arts Activate Grant 2019 recipient and a former Cedars Union Artist Residency recipient. She is a founding member of Texas Vignette, a non-profit organization that promotes the arts by providing support, education and producing the annual Vignette Art Fair, showing and amplifying the work of women artists throughout Texas. She received her BFA in jazz guitar performance from the University of North Texas.
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ARTIST STATEMENT
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Language is a technology that utilizes various visual, musical, spoken and written methodologies to connect with other humans. Throughout my artistic working life, my practice has concentrated on the processes of collaboration and dialogue. I am an interdisciplinary artist creating work utilizing generative and interactive visuals, video, light, music composition and text. My work explores themes of time, space, perception, equality and human connection. In my light works I sculpt intimate worlds that allow for a sense of engagement and defamiliarization, obscuring the contents within my work and pushing us to reassess the information our senses first gather. I utilize time through shifting perception and visual illusion with implied or actual movement. Using text as a methodology for communication, I create works in neon that speak to religious oppression, injustice and materialism. Light is a powerful conduit for transformation, as it channels beauty and power in a pointed way. In my immersive technology-based installations I invite viewers to see a new relationship between our natural world and new media by employing various techniques of listening, composition, and performance. Exploring various methods of communication I hope to encourage dialogue and find harmonious points of connection.
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