Publications: John Harlan Norris

Institute 193 is proud to release the first monograph by artist and musician John Harlan Norris. In Disintegrants, Norris, who exhibited with Institute 193 in 2017, continues his research on portraiture, here motivated by a sense of disembodiment that emerges out of mediated images, digital information, and virtual relationships. As portrait scholar Alba Campo Rosillo points out in her essay 'Metaportraits' included in the book, Norris's paintings 'suggest the presence of selves but do not offer straightforward representations of individuals.' Norris assembles his abstracted compositions from human-made objects like sunglasses, gloves and portable speakers and tools associated with his craft, primarily stretcher bars, to make images that suggest identity as a composite of the signifiers with which we surround ourselves.

In addition to the paintings, Norris has recorded a full-length album meant to accompany the paintings, titled aptly, Disintegrants Soundtrack, which is included in the book as a CD and digital download.

About John Harlan Norris

John Harlan Norris is an artist and musician originally from Nicholasville, KY. His work explores alternative approaches to portraiture and investigates notions such as occupational identity and virtual constructions of the self. Past exhibitions of his work have been held at Institute 193, Trestle Gallery (NY), Egelund Gallery (Denmark), Plus Gallery (CO), 21C Museum Hotel (AR), Jonathan Ferrara Gallery (LA), Greg Thompson Fine Art (AR), Contemporary Arts Center Las Vegas (NV), and David Lusk Gallery (TN) among others. In addition to his solo music projects, Norris records and performs with the group Letters of Acceptance. He lives in Lexington, KY.

John Harlan Norris: Disintegrants
Softcover, 9 x 12 inches / 62 pages / full color 
Pub Date: 2019
Publisher: Institute 193 
Design and production by Iota Books 
ISBN: 978-1-7328482-1-4

Includes CD and digital download code.