Kevin R. Frech

The Global Warming series is a triptych of three time lapse videos depicting different, sumptuous foods: meat, vegetation, and liquids as they decay under film lights. By placing these arresting images that may be initially mistaken for commercial advertising and subverting it for passersby, Frech encourages the viewer to ask questions about the ways we impact climate change within our own lives.

Foundation and Empire suspends $1,000, in the form of 10 x $100 bills, in a block of ice and records a time lapse of it melting. The cotton and linen paper of the currency traps heat more efficiently than the surrounding ice or air, causing the money to have a direct, observable impact on its frozen surroundings, just as the impacts of climate change are most notable in the arctic. The more that the cash becomes exposed and warms, the more it warps the ice, until the entire structure becomes unsustainable. The sum of $1,000 was chosen as the smallest “large sum” of money that most people can envision.

About the Artist

Frech’s work examines issues facing western, contemporary society during this rise of technology and the comparative ease and luxury it offers. This occurs simultaneously with our alienation from each other and the breakdown of our natural world, caused by our frantic consumption of its resources.

While specific subjects vary, Frech’s work remains centered on human experience.  It attempts to rebuild those bonds we complacently let slip into neglect.  Though the artist works in other visual art forms, the process of video has great appeal, as it begins as an intensely personal and private exploration as they develop and ideas. Then preproduction and production commences, which inevitably involves multiple parties contributing both in front of and behind the camera.  And then suddenly it’s just the artist again, sitting alone in the editing room.