Nathan Meltz

Part critique, part fascination, the art I create examines the infiltration of technology into every facet of our lives, from family and food to politics and war. Nightmarish industrial creations are set against images of grand mechanical constructions, an off-kilter vision of technology. In my visual vocabulary, the contemporary world of nanotechnology and genetic modification is retrofitted with collaged analog machine parts. Collages of mechanical humanoids and animals turn into printmaking, animation, and sculpture, as I create visual narratives telling the story of a doomed robotic populace in a techno-dystopia.

My current body of work investigates technology’s role in utopian movements. One branch of research involves fantastical narratives of animals, plants, and fungi seeking to escape earth for a more sustainable climate. The other involves representations of the mythical Jewish Golem, the original automaton summoned by magic to protect against oppression. Both branches, situated in large format and experimental printmaking, seek to address whether our technologies have made for better worlds, or worse.