Digital Art: (R)evolution

For Immediate Release: Contact: Jordan Ochs
October 2013 [email protected] | 508-636-4177

Dedee Shattuck Gallery is thrilled to present Digital Art: (R)evolution, an exhibition of works by Anne Morgan Spalter and Leslie Thornton in the context of the New Media pioneers who came before them. Morgan Spalter and Thornton process original source video through customized editing software to create kaleidoscopic video pieces and still digital imagery. The works transform mathematical algorithms into visualizations, raising conceptual questions through technique and content. Historic works are generously loaned by the Spalter Digital Art Collection. This exhibit is curated by Michael Spalter and Isabel Mattia in collaboration with the artists.

Anne Morgan Spalter travels extensively, shooting video, exhibiting work, lecturing and teaching. She has exhibited on a billboard in Atlanta as part of the Billboard project, in RI at the RISD museum, in New York, Florida, and LA, as well as Dubai, Italy and Croatia. Her most recent body of work includes source imagery from Bora Bora. Spalter is influenced by the intricate patterning of Islamic art and the concentric mandala imagery of Hindu and Buddhist art. As skyscrapers, taxicabs, palm fronds, temple architecture, and desert-scapes fold upon themselves, abstract forms and patterns emerge. The viewer, entrenched in the hypnotic experience of viewing the piece, begins to ponder the permanence and solidity of man-made structures and the landscapes we interact with. Morgan Spalter will also exhibit new pieces that pioneer presentation formats for digital work including a media screen coffee table, printed decals and wall paper, and screen “gem” objects. Modern Painters/BLOUIN ART INFO described her work as “dazzling and hypnotic…provoking an experience of dislocation.”

Leslie Thornton is an enormously influential artist and acknowledged pioneer in media. A recent Guggenheim fellow, she shows at the Winkleman Gallery in New York, has exhibited at MoMA, and was featured in the 2008 Whitney Biennial and in Whitney Museum’s millennial show “The Art of the Century”. She was featured last year in Artforum's 50th Anniversary Issue in an article by media scholar Ed Halter.

Here, she exhibits kaleidoscopic transformations of video imagery derived from video footage of fauna, insects, and a new piece featuring the bubbling tar pits of the La Brea tar Pits in LA. The work is presented in a “binocular” format, where the original footage is visible in one lens circle adjacent to the transformed footage. This creates the sense that the organic source material is in control of the abstracted outcome; as a zebra tilts his head slightly, or a tar bubble pops, the transformed image simultaneously twists and shifts. Because the viewer cannot focus on both images simultaneously, the eye either darts back and forth, processing the pure imagery and abstraction separately, or pulls back to experience the interplay of movement between the two lenses. Also on view will be a version of “Luna”, a video triptych that processes footage from Coney Island using visual signifiers that reference a variety of specific film genres.
The Spalter Digital art collection is an encyclopedic survey of the development and progression of computer based art. With works dating from 1954 to the present, it may be the most exhaustive and significant digital art collection in existence. Collectors Michael and Anne Morgan Spalter have lent works to NY MOMA, the V&A Museum in London, and the SVA gallery in New York. They have made images available to numerous texts and essays. Along with works by Morgan Spalter and Thornton, this exhibit includes examples from the collection that highlight over 50 years of innovation, such as the first documented computer generated image- created by Ben Laposky in 1954, and stunning seminal works by digital art pioneers Desmond Paul Henry, Manfred Mohr, Mark Wilson, Vera Molnar, Jean-Pierre Hébert, Roman Verotsko, and others. This exhibit is not only a fascinating and compelling display of contemporary work, but also an educational opportunity for viewers and collectors interested in understanding the development of New Media Art.
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Digital Art: (R)evolution
Wednesday October 2nd through Sunday November 10th
Artist Reception: Saturday, October 5, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.

All exhibits and receptions are free and open to the public.

For more information, to obtain publicity images, or to arrange interviews contact Jordan Ochs at 508-636-4177 or via email: [email protected]

Dedee Shattuck Gallery 1 Partners Lane, off 865 Main Road in Westport, MA 02790.
Gallery Hours: Wednesday through Saturday, l0 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays Noon to 5 p.m. www.dedeeshattuckgallery.com.