Words, images, symbols: one artist’s expression

(sic), AKA Seth Indigo Carnes, exhales

By Adriana Serafino | Manor Ink

In every type of artwork we see in our daily lives, there are many meticulous decisions that go into the final work to show what the artist wants the viewer to see and feel.

While walking around the hamlet of Narrowsburg, you might have seen political, text-based murals by Seth Indigo Carnes, an artist who is based in New York City and Sullivan county, and has been creating provocative artwork for 25 years.

In the world of art, a design can display a variety of meanings, depending on the eye of the beholder. Carnes uses shapes, signs, symbols and language to create pieces that tell numerous stories and convey various meanings to different viewers.

“It’s a rare privilege to live in a time where freedom of expression through making art can be one’s daily work,” Carnes said. “I hope that freedom persists.”

Carnes attended Pomona College in Los Angeles, gaining a Bachelor’s degree in history. He later went on to get a Master’s degree in Integrated Digital Media from New York University.

Currently, Carnes is working on a variety of projects. One is Poetics, a visual poetry app that allows users to create digital art using words and images. He is working toward releasing interactive visual poetry files created with Poetics as limited edition artworks on the blockchain.

He is also working with Miniluv, an underground group that creates “advertising” campaigns that are mysterious and difficult to sort out. Another project is contributing to TXT, a nomadic arts collective that produces decentralized art in many different forms. Its contributors have created an “artist’s contract” for decentralized art.

Carnes will describe the work done by TXT in a panel discussion on July 19, at 4:30 p.m., at the newly opened Roscoe Collective, a place for gallery shows and creative workshops for all ages. Located at 57 Stewart Avenue in the hamlet, the Roscoe Collective is slated to formally open later this fall, but the panel discussion will be its first event. To learn more about space, visit theroscoecollective.com or @theroscoecollective on Instagram.

Artists take inspiration in their creative work from many different sources, and Carnes finds motivation by way of meditation. “I try to inhale and exhale the world, listening, reflecting, observing and noticing patterns,” said Carnes. “Sometimes in that flow, inspired creativity occurs.”

To learn more about Seth Indigo Carnes and his art, visit sic.studio. There you can find a link to download his Poetics app. The website for the TXT collective is txt.studio.