Atlas (2013) or Shoplifters of the World Unite and Take Over (2013) is composed of a
series of various sized screens, where a number of invited participants upload images
(of their work or of any image that inspires them at that moment, or that day, or that
week…) during the course of the exhibition From here to there by means of a website
portal. Akin to the painter Gehard Richter's image collection, Atlas, described as
an "'organism' that continues to evolve and change,"(Helmut Friesel, Gerhard Richter:
Atlas, introduction) Shoplifters of the World Unite and Take Over mutates and shifts too
in both context and content over time. Images will be transferred to the various screen
sizes in real time. During the duration of the exhibition, the images will continually
change; ephemeral in nature, audiences will never be able to apprehend the expanse of
the work, until or unless documented in printed form, itself an impossible proposition.
The nature of the work itself become a commentary about the transitory nature of
electronic media in particular and about art itself, in general. Atlas (2013) or Shoplifters
of the World Unite and Take Over (2013) challenges the notions of aura, ephemerality
and value—that Walter Benjamin had circumscribed in his seminal essay “Art in the
Age of Mechanical Reproduction”—that we give to art and ideas in the age of electronic
media. All images will be collected as documentation. By appropriating the images,
gdloft—a design studio that serves non profit and art institutions —hopes to acquire the
contributors' "perspective" and perception of the world, art, the self, etc. The images will
create an "Atlas" that will serve as inspiration and provide conceptual underpinnings for
future gdloft work.

Contributors range from international recognized artists to everyday people. As graphic
designers, much of gdloft's inspiration comes from everyday people and interaction.
The many contributors were chosen based on their works, writings or persona, and
their influence on gdloft's own artistic process. Many of the contributors are artists and
everyday people who challenge the traditional notions of design in use or have a different
process and strategy for getting through life and have become personal inspirations for
the gdloft artists. Espiritu and Seo were interested in expressing this "influence" from
the micro to the macro level, from Andrew Santos, a 33 year old who quit his job to
care for a terminally ill mother, to Min + Sulki, an internationally renown design studio
based in Seoul, who are influencing new perspectives of graphic design in Korea. Other
participants include( and not limited to): Jonty Valentine (Aukland, NZ) is a leading
designer and critic in New Zealand melding fine arts and graphic design; Ken Kim
(Oakland, CA) is a designer at Apple by day, and creates experimental, architecture
inspired art works by night; Ahree Lee (Los Angeles, CA) is a video artist, experimenting
in issues of time; Rebbeca Gimenez (Chicago, IL) was recently art director of the
Whitney Museum and is part of the experimental design group, We are Photoshop;
Juliette Cezzar (NYC) is a designer, educator and author based in New York City
whose work is anchored in book design; Sang Do Kim is a poet/ designer based in
Korea; Christopher Gianunzio (Philadelphia, PA) is a award winning photographer
and curator whose photography mixes graphic design pedagogy; Kevin Kernan, is a
designer/silkscreen artist inspired by anime and monster culture and Christopher
Espiritu (Newark, NJ) is the brother of the artist and a practicing graphic designer in
NYC whose professional track was inspired by his older brother.
Gdloft's act of curating a group of people and artists addresses the theme of
inspiration and influence, on the one hand, and of using the electronic screen as a
continuously changing reflection on the world of images, always in transition, becoming
transient, and both meaningful and meaningless.