when will you want the new human language
new cave painting no. 8
2026
showing in los angeles, sept 24-27, 2026, at the other art fair los angeles. 384 pieces of color paper, each an original text phrase, question, or language glyph. 24 x 10 ft; oil stick, paper, ink.
about the installation
one of the artist’s conceptual new cave paintings that explore how to preserve we the human in a time of AI empty intelligence.
this piece proposes a new human language and a new human vocabulary, just for we the human, based on the universal human body-felt experiences all humans share, and invites consideration of what we may want to preserve, for ourselves and our children, so that we may remain someday more than a myth.
the piece ultimately tells a human story, a love story, and a tragedy, and proposes both hope and defiance: I refuse to lose the human.
art practice, process, bio, cv
represented by ENGAGE Projects Chicago
the installation in context
When Will You Want the New Human Language is part of an evolving body of work by the artist, comprising experimental “new cave paintings,” “inscription paintings,” and writing systems. The artist’s broader experiment within this body of work asks whether human language-making must remain linear—and thus susceptible to artificial intelligence—or whether human-only meanings can be created, shared, and preserved through “spatial writing systems” that might have different combinations of layering, legibility, illegibility, and abstraction.
theory and ideas behind this body of work
critical reception to date
first first solo exhibition: critic Michel Ségard wrote in New Art Examiner: “it is rare that one encounters [work] with such depth”; “complexity and gravitas”; “profound and ambiguous.” The New Art Examiner is an independent Chicago-based international art criticism magazine.
first two solo exhibitions: each selected by Artforum as a “Must See” exhibition in Chicago.
second solo exhibition: selected by Mousse as one of “the best contemporary art exhibitions and events” in Chicago aligned with the 2023 international art fair EXPO Chicago (Mousse Magazine and Publishing). Based in Milan Italy, Mousse is an independent international contemporary art and culture magazine that features critical essays and interviews by international critics, artists, and curators.
third solo exhibition reviewed in Newcity Art / the artist’s verdict. Newcity Art is an independent art and culture magazine in Chicago that is a leading voice in Chicago’s cultural scene.
theory + writing
the following emerging theoretical work has developed with the art practice:
“artist-placed public document art” and “courts as our last human place”
the artist’s art theory and practice of “artist-placed public document art” in the context of “courts as our last human place” is anticpated late 2026 / early 2027 as a published chapter, as a contributing author, in Bureaucratic Realism, an art theory volume edited by Meg Duguid, Ted Hiebert, and Duncan MacKenzie, published by Noxious Sector Press (Seattle and Toronto), with other chapters contributed by academics, curators, and critical theorists.
the citizen methods: what a citizen can do, 2026
building on the theory of “artist-placed public document art” (APPDA), the artist’s constitutional and civic theory proposes “the citizen methods”—content-neutral civic acts through which citizens can help steward constitutional republics to ensure they comport with their constitutional principles. the theory additionally proposes the “citizen-placed public document” (CPPD) as an additional potential citizen method.
(note: the below link is to the Social Science Research Network (owned by Elsevier, a leading publisher of scientific literature), a repository for pre-published scholarship; it has an “are you a human?” screen to protect from AI.)
read “the citizen methods” on SSRN
the paper is anticipated to also become a book in 2027.
contact
ENGAGE Projects Gallery in Chicago — Jennifer Armetta, director and owner — jennifer@engage-projects.com