Forcefield is an art collective to be reckoned with. Started in 1996 by a group of Rhode Island School of Design students, it is composed of an ambiguous group of four dudes with funny names: P. Lobe, Gorgon Radeo (pictured left), Meerk Puffy and Le Geef. They first gained prominence as part of Fort Thunder, a Providence, Rhode Island, warehouse space that held arty happenings in the late '90s.
Lawrence Rinder, an influential curator at New York's Whitney Museum of American Art, discovered the talented team while scouting for the 2002 Biennial. Forcefield's Star Wars-influenced installation of Afghan bodysuit-clad space creatures became one of the most loved and talked-about pieces at the show.
A curious mix of nerdy, arrogant and psychedelic, the collective's work can be an unsettling and overwhelming sensory experience. "What we are trying to achieve is synesthesia," says P. Lobe, somewhat perplexingly. Gorgon Radeo adds, "It's like when your senses get confused. Color would become sound, then sound becomes smell and so forth." Forcefield tries to inspire its audience to participate. "We want people to suspend their fears, let down their guards and not be afraid when they see our work," says Gorgon. "But if people have become too comfortable with what we do, then we have failed."
CAROL LEE
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