In this series of larger than life “portraits,” Mark Read demonstrates mastery of a futuristic and otherworldly medium. Going even further into invisible realms than his infrared and ultraviolet photography, the triptych “Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil” invents the process of “high dynamic range x-rays” to reveal the intimate and mysterious interior of the body as spirit – in the form of mudras, or magical postures. The installation for LIBERTINE is presented as a “future sacred,” a Rothko chapel for the 21st Century, with sound, light, and object creating a meditative chamber for communion.

The origin of the three monkeys dates back to an ancient Chinese Confucian allegory updated to a Japanese Buddhist artistic image. In Read’s version the skeletal core of the human animal is juxtaposed with the light of the soul by means of a medical imaging technique captured, processed, and presented with modern technology – referencing the contemporary question of good and evil reflected in radiation, digital process, and electromagnetic permeation.

The work highlights the interplay between unilateral and bi-directional transparency, as well as the illusions and truths entwined around our perceptions, beliefs, projections, and practices. Sophistic rhetoric now belies seeing and hearing itself, as the freedom to perceive and think is pre-programmed. What is the meaning of ethics in a time when “reality is what you can get away with” and art conspires to manufacture consent?

As an artist and scientist with a passion for employing new media techniques that do not yet exist in the art world, Read brings a wide array of advanced technological disciplines to bear in each unique creation, allowing us to peer into familiar worlds with alien eyes. These works are the result of highly labor intensive and technologically advanced techniques, sometimes taking years to create one image not otherwise generally available in our lifetime. By means of his organization HYPERCUBE, his practice has evolved through multiple dimensions, including paintings in Soho in the 80s, light and sound installations at raves in the 90s, film and video production in the 2000s in and out of Hollywood, and currently virtual world design with startups internationally.