Your Mind, This Moment: Art and the Practice of Attention, February 17, 2017 - August 17, 2017, Second Fl. North Gallery, San José Museum of Art.

Momentum: An Experience in the Unexpected, October 2, 2014 - February 22, 2015, New Wing, Second Floor, North and Central Skylight Galleries, San José Museum of Art.

Vital Signs: New Media from the Permanent Collection, June 12, 2010 - February 6, 2011, New Wing, Second Floor, South Gallery, San José Museum of Art.

Contemporary Art from the Permanent Collection, July 30, 2007 - September 9, 2007, San José Museum of Art.

Brides of Frankenstein, July 31, 2005 - October 30, 2005, New Wing, First Floor, Gibson Family Gallery and Plaza Gallery, San José Museum of Art.

Your Mind, This Moment: Art and the Practice of Attention (2017)

In Rose Breathing, the delicate petals of a rose open and close, in sequence with the slow measured intake and release of breath on the audio track. As the blush petals tenderly move, however, the image of the rose—pink and veined—also begins to resemble a beating heart. Andrea Ackerman has consistently used Maya, a 3-D modeling animation software, to enable her to create digital fusions of distinct organic properties. Ackerman’s work reflects her scientific background. She studied biophysics in college, neuroscience in medical school, and trained and practiced as a child psychiatrist and psychoanalyst for years before turning to art. She is interested in the emotional, mental, and physical responses her work generates.


Vital Signs: New Media from the Permanent Collection (2010-2011)

Through synthetic means—the 3D modeling animation program Maya—Andrea Ackerman enhances the innate characteristics of a rose that seem human; the cross-species similarities create an empathetic connection between humans and nature. In her art, Ackerman often uses technology to bring the artificial to life. As the rose petals oscillate in Rose Breathing (2003), it becomes clear that they are propelled not by nature’s winds but by a measured intake and release of breath. The bloom pulses with the movement and sound of respiration. Rich with connotations throughout history, the rose symbolizes, among other things, beauty, love, and sexuality—yet here Ackerman asserted the rose’s vulnerability and emotionality, traits that are deeply human.

This object was included in the following exhibitions:

• Vital Signs: New Media from the Permanent Collection San Jose Museum of Art , 6/12/2010 - 2/6/2011

• Installation of video Dimensions: in. (cm)

This object is a member of the following portfolios: