RAIR | 2001-02

Kelly Newcomer

Kelly Newcomer draws inspiration from emotional fantasies that humans create with their machines. Her colorful, painterly works on paper and her ceramic figures are inspired by the non-dystopian potential of our shared future on Earth. Her work is influenced by theorist Donna Haraway, who says, “Technology is not neutral. We're inside of what we make, and it's inside of us. We're living in a world of connections - and it matters which ones get made and unmade.” (The Cyborg Manifesto, 1984). Based in Minneapolis, Kelly has exhibited widely and also licenses her work as a commercial illustrator. (From RAiR 50th Anniversary Exhibition Catalog, 2017)

All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace

By Richard Brautigan

I like to think 

(and the sooner the better!)

of a cybernetic meadow

where mammals and computers

live together in mutually

programming harmony

like pure water

touching clear sky.

I like to think

(right now, please!)

of a cybernetic forest

filled with pines and electronics

where deer stroll peacefully

past computers

as if they were flowers

with spinning blossoms.

I like to think

(it has to be!)

of a cybernetic ecology

where we are free of our labors

and joined back to nature,

returned to our mammal

brothers and sisters,

and all watched over by machines of loving grace.

Roswell Museum

Rair exhibition •  Kelly Newcomer “All watched over by machines of loving grace" • May 3 - July 7, 2002