deep inside the tragic heart of the human condition, underneath and more basic [even] than the need for existential comforts [food shelter sex] there exists a paradoxical propensity: the absolute necessity and the utter futility of the human need to find order
hybridizing my peculiar past as a designer, a painter, a musician and an animator, I explore this territory through spatial psycho-perception, using manifestations of geometry as a metaphor
a line—a center line, a ley line, a line drawn in the sand, a borderline, a line of longitude or latitude, a line born from a point translated to a plane extruded to a volume [and god divided the mass from the void and there was space]—manifests the desire for order
order in turn exists as a kind of collective psychological shibboleth, a mental signifier of territory, a sisyphian stab at a reversal of entropy
to think all our wars and comforts depend on the line… a phantom, a thing that does not exist—
—but for geometry!
geometry, the image of probability: of a thing or things or relationship between things that is/are or was/were or will be, of the imaginary needle in the fuzzy data cloud haystack of the illusion of territory, of the quantum particles that constitute meaning
geometry, the fiction upon which rests our collective and necessary delusion of political, social, sexual or any other order…
Artist Biography
williamCromar is an artist and educator based in Philadelphia. He hybridizes a peculiar blend of architecture, music, animation and artmaking into a unique body of sculptural and installation art. He was one of three collaborators who received a Silver Medal at the International Biennial of Architecture in Sofia, Bulgaria for the film order through geometry, produced with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. He was awarded an exhibition in the Samuel Fleisher Art Memorial’s Challenge Exhibitions, a prestigious regional competition sponsored by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and was selected as a Finalist for the Pew Fellowships in the Arts.
Solo exhibitions include halfwayhouse, an installation at Nexus Foundation for Today’s Art sponsored by inLiquid.com, and redrain at aFSe Gallery in Philadelphia. A long-term installation at Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site, titled gtmo, was recently renovated for its 10th anniversary and is currently on view. He collaborated with DesignPhiladelphia in the exhibition 4/4 at Michelle Liao Collection, where his first projection installation see d’ was unveiled.
In 2008, he cofounded TangenT ArT CollaboraTive with Yvonne Love, Gabrielle Russomagno, and Mike "Slo-Mo" Brenner. TangenT is dedicated to the creation of mixed-media, project-based, immersive art environments exploring socially relevant and politically current themes through transcendent metaphor. The group enjoys exhibiting in non-traditional venues like the HOPE (Hackers On Planet Earth) Conference in New York, as well as publicly accessible exhibition spaces such as International House Philadelphia, which hosted the multi-media work 709b in 2012. TangenT's most ambitious project to date, RedAct, culminated in an installation at Crane Arts in Philadelphia, funded in part by a grant from the Barra Foundation in 2016.
williamCromar has exhibited nationwide, freelanced as an architectural modeling consultant, taught and lectured at the University of Pennsylvania, served as Visiting Assistant Professor in the School of Architecture at Philadelphia University, and was a visiting critic at Wesleyan University. He is currently Chair for the Penn State Abington College Art Program, where he also teaches new media art, encouraging emerging artists to create senseless acts of beauty on the Mackintosh.
Education
1994 School of Design, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA MFA
1984 College of Architecture + Urban Studies, Virginia Polytechnic Institute + State University, Blacksburg, VA Bachelor of Architecture, magna cum laude
Bibliography
Publications
2012
“Hack,” exhibition catalog edited by Andrew Cameron Zahn, curator
“Linear Thinking,” exhibition catalog edited by Jeanne Brasile, curator
2002 “Artists at home,” edited by Judy West, Philadelphia Inquirer Magazine, October 6, 2002
2000 Grownups, artwork featured in a Bridge and Tunnel film production
1992 Mouth of Hell, record cover illustration, Miles Dethmuffen
1989 Eyes on You, record cover illustration, Mahatma Dogma
Webever.biz, Philadelphia, PA inLiquid.com, Philadelphia, PA Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University, Boca Raton, FL Productions Unlimited, West Palm Beach, FL Print Archive, University of Pennsylvania Private collections in CT, FL, MA, NC, NY, NJ, PA, WV, VA
Affiliation
Founding member, TangenT Art Collaborative
Member, College Art Association
Member, Philadelphia Museum of Art
Charter member, Inliquid.com Art + Design Network
Professional Experience
1988 - present Design consultant
2009 - present Lecturer in Art, Division of Arts and Humanities, Penn State University Abington College, Abington, PA Coordinator, New Media concentration in Art
2007 - 2009 Assistant Professor, School of Architecture, Philadelphia University, Philadelphia, PA
2003 - 2007 Visiting Assistant Professor, School of Architecture, Philadelphia University, Philadelphia, PA
1995 - 2000 Lecturer, School of Design, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
1994 - 2002 Adjunct Professor, School of Architecture, Philadelphia University, Philadelphia, PA
1994 Assistant to Isaiah Zagar, Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia PA
1990 - 1991 Architectural + industrial designer, Robert Luchetti Associates, Cambridge, MA
1987 - 1989 Architectural and industrial designer, Tamarkin Techler Group, Boston, MA
1985 - 1987 Architectural designer, Charles T. Stifter, Boston, MA
1984 - 1985 Instructor, College of Architecture + Urban Studies, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA
Exhibitions
Solo & Collaborative
2016 d1ASp0RA: a web-based exhibition, Digital Fringe, Fringe Festival, Philadelphia, PA
RedAct, IceBox and Grey Area, Crane Arts, Philadelphia, PA
2015 RedAct: a web-based exhibition, Digital Fringe, Fringe Festival, Philadelphia, PA
flySpec (from RED ACT), Kimmel Center, Philadelphia, PA
2014 BROKENSPOKEN (from RED ACT), Old City Publishing, Philadelphia, PA
2012 709b, International House, Philadelphia, PA
2010 New Works by TangenT, Grossman Gallery, Lafayette College, Easton, PA
2009 709b, multimedia performance, Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia, PA
2008 Past Present: William Cromar Ten Years, Design Center, Philadelphia, PA
eco ecco echo, multimedia collaboration, Grey Area, Crane Arts Building, Philadelphia, PA
Digital Fringe Exhibition, CRUXspace, Philadelphia, PA
D-ART 2016, http://www.d-art2016.com/ | 19th International Conference Information Visualization, Lisbon, Portugal | 13th International Conference on Computer Graphics, Imaging and Visualization, Beni Mellal City, Morocco
