Michael Gill: Momentum Like Diamonds, at William Busta Projects

In physics, we calculate momentum by multiplying mass times velocity. In lots of other ways we think about momentum as the tendency of acceleration to feed upon acceleration—in success on sporting fields, in the popularity of a candidate, in the intensity of relationships. Among other things, the experience of Michael Gill’s exhibition is about how momentum and attentiveness interact. As the artists says, “we (cyclists) guard our momentum like diamonds: precious.”

Some studies suggest that the average visitor to a museum looks at a work of art for less than three seconds. But, then, that’s the average—often during visits to museums we cycle through rooms and corridors just to get from one place to another, and then we lift our eyes as we coast through galleries of art with which we are affectionately familiar, and then we brake as our attention is seized by a particular object.

In Momentum like Diamonds, there is artwork based upon three different ways that we encounter visual information. There are prints based on roadway caution signs—information that we absorb at roadway speeds; there are prints that are posters for events—visual images that arrest, intended to grab enough that we pay attention; and there is a book—visual images in sequence, where we are taken on a journey, page-by-page.

Maybe start with the book. Turn the page. Books order experience as much as any other kind of journey. The discoveries of one page add to memory even as we turn the page for a new discovery. Ordering is important because the first impressions often stick. Then the posters. Posters are intended to be absorbed in a short burst. Before an event they entice; after, they keep the event close (there is magic in the best posters, inviting us to imagine being places that we never were). And last, as we speed, the caution signs. Ignore them at your peril.

WILLIAM BUSTA PROJECTS
15517 Waterloo Road, Suites 2 & 4 (upstairs)
Cleveland, Ohio 44110
wbusta@sbcglobal.net
216.401.2752
Open noon-5pm Thursday, Friday & Saturday during scheduled exhibitions

EVENTS:

Michael Gill: Momentum Like Diamonds, February 6–March 7, 2026