The interior of a truck filled with plants and cardboard boxes.

Alison O’Daniel

California
Interdisciplinary
Affiliate, 2020 - 2022
↗ www.alisonodaniel.com

Sound
Light
A portrait of a person against a pink background.

Artist Statement

Combining cinema, sound-dampening textiles and sculptures, and large-scale installations, my work is generated from a deep engagement with sound, acoustics, access, and complex embodiment. Informed by my experiences of being hard of hearing and collaborations with other Deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing composers, athletes, musicians, and performers, I explore new ways of intricately combining seeing and hearing. I am most influenced by a hypersensitivity to a lack of information, and the desire to transform sound from a source of frustration, entry, or refusal into a profound and malleable material, and to build a visual, aural, and haptic vocabulary as a means to tell stories inspired by events that are both historic and quotidian.

While at Headlands

I will arrive at Headlands after a focused period of film production and before a solo show with my gallery, Commonwealth and Council. Therefore, I will be simultaneously editing the feature-length version of my long-term film project, The Tuba Thieves, and building an object-based body of work that will consider different ways to access sound through sensorially shifted or translated means as a productive, generative, and imaginative model for building new forms of storytelling. I will expand upon a personal and poetic game-like logic and process akin to the children’s game, Telephone, in which a word or phrase is passed along and morphs as it moves down the line of hearing, repeating, mishearing, and rephrasing by participants.

Selected Video

Alison O’Daniel, The Tuba Thieves – Scene 22: The Deaf Club, 2020; 16mm, VHS, and HD video all transferred to HD video, excerpt 6 min 17 sec. Written, directed, edited by Alison O’Daniel based on scores by Christine Sun Kim, Steve Roden, and Ethan Frederick Greene. Starring Nyke Prince, Produced by Rachel Nederveld, Cinematography by Meena Singh and Judy Phu.

Alison O’Daniel, The Tuba Thieves [teaser], 2020; HD video. Written, directed, edited by Alison O’Daniel based on scores by Christine Sun Kim, Steve Roden, and Ethan Frederick Greene. Starring Nyke Prince, Produced by Rachel Nederveld, Cinematography by Meena Singh and Judy Phu.
Gallery
An installation in a dark gallery featuring a quilt with large black and white color blocks and red and blue vertical color bands hanging suspended in the space, with neon lights in the shape of arrows on the floor
Zamboni Storyboard and Arp Soundproofer, 2016; gaffer tape, neon, cotton, steel, rope; Quilt 23ft x 40ft.; Floor 16ft x 9 ft x 20ft; © Alison O'Daniel
A sculpture comprised of shelving-unit-like blocks painted black or dark grey, some interiors painted with various jewel tones, and with abstract shapes inside. One end of the structure has a curved section excised, and a metal musical triangle hangs there.
No Mathematical Logic. We Unfold Somehow., 2018; wood, acoustic foam, polyurethane, musical triangle, striker, 104” x 156” x 8”; © Alison O'Daniel
A projection on a wall of blue skies is obscured in part by hanging abstract shapes made out of wood, which cast shadows on the projection
Nyke and the New York Kite Enthusiasts in Santa Monica, 2018; Video projection, steel, motor, ribbon, wood, 18' x 18' x 12'; © Alison O'Daniel
a gallery with white walls and wood floors, containing a set of objects including painted wood lathed forms in the foreground, ropes or cords in red and black strung across the ground, and large black and pink forms hanging on far walls
Say the word NOWHERE. Say HEADPHONES. Say NOTHING., 2018; mixed media; © Alison O'Daniel
A person on a bus sits low in a seat, only part of their face, obscured by large black sunglasses, is visible. Behind them are musical instrument cases.
The Tuba Thieves, video still, 2013-ongoing; Written, directed, edited by Alison O'Daniel based on scores by Christine Sun Kim, Steve Roden, and Ethan Frederick Greene.
A woman with dark skin and black har, wearing a black hoodie and dark lipstick, stands outside. Behind her are hedges with red flowers.
The Tuba Thieves, video still, 2013-ongoing; Written, directed, edited by Alison O'Daniel based on musical scores by Christine Sun Kim, Steve Roden, and Ethan Frederick Greene.
Related Events
Open House

Spring Open House Lite

April 24, 12-5PM