bitforms gallery is pleased to present a second solo exhibition with New York based artist R. Luke DuBois. Melding romance and U.S. geography, DuBois’ new project is a follow up to his Hindsight is Always 20/20, which examined vision of the American presidency.

A More Perfect Union looks at American self-identity through the medium of online dating services. Culling data from over twenty online dating sites, the work is organized according to the same heuristics as the U.S. Census, sorting dating profiles by Congressional District and subjecting the imagery and text to statistical analysis.

“Online dating forces us to engage in a vulnerable act of articulating our self-identity in a semi-public forum for the express purpose of being wanted,” says DuBois. “To read a thoughtful dating profile or view a profile photo is to view the precarious expression of someone else’s desires.”

Revealing a ‘dating lexicon’ of each state, DuBois built maps using the words provided by 16.7 million people describing themselves and those they desire. Comprised as a romantic atlas of the United States, each regional geography uses keywords from dating profiles in lieu of the city and town names.

In a second printed series, maps of the entire country are colored in a ‘red-state/blue-state’ pattern, showing how different adjectives (such as ‘shy’ and ‘lonely’) are spread across the country among women and men.

“Matching” an array of photographic images from the dating census in a video diptych, profile pictures are separated by gender and sequenced according to their Congressional District. The photos are aligned so that eyes in each portrait are centered. The faces flash by and blur, too quickly to recognize individuals, resulting in a gestalt impression of a dating pool and, by inference, American society as it presents itself as potential romantic interest.

Concurrent and upcoming 2011 exhibitions with R. Luke DuBois

Jan 25 – Apr 24, Portsmouth, NH: iImage: The Uncommon Portrait, Portsmouth Museum of Art Feb 5, Berlin, Germany: Transmediale (performance with Fair Use trio) Feb 8, Cambridge, MA: Moments of Inertia (performance with Todd Reynolds), Turbulence.org and Upgrade International, M.I.T. Media Lab [E14]. Room 633, 75 Amherst St Nov, New Orleans, LA: Prospect.2 biennial curated by Dan Cameron