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Tucson’s Breakthrough Digital Artists
Dinnerware Contemporary Arts teams up with Platform Gallery to display digitally influenced works by Tucson artists. The 21st Century has presented its biggest artistic dilemma: how to deal with technology and still make original art. Each artist has found a way to express a unique view using an electronic process. Their work ranges from prints to embroidery to actual paint; and each artist uses the computer to create sketches, collages, or artwork content. In each instance the artists have used the computer to affect their work through an aesthetic or process, broadening the definition of "Digital Art." The "Old Pueblo" is now a center of development in space, optics and information technology. It isn't a surprise that Tucson's artist community reflects the cultural influence of the city, and is creating work on the same cutting edge.
Tom Baumgartner is a graduate of The Art Institute of Chicago, and has been an active painter for 18 yrs. He currently holds the position of Art Director for the Tucson public relations firm Ridgewood Associates. Tom Baumgartner's artwork bridges the digital and natural worlds. Using photographs taken of natural subjects, he distorts the image digitally creating a sketch that juxtaposes the computer aesthetic with raw natural realism. The end product is an awe-inspiring work, an oil painting on a custom wood panel with all the painterly textures and brushstrokes that are everything but digital. Blake Shell is an artist who works with digital medium primarily. She creates unusual combinations of text and imagery from the Internet, often taken from fetish groups. Her fascination with the Internet, and its position as a catalyst for new ways of thinking and living, has lead to remarkable artworks. Her work has recently been shown alongside the works of Bill Viola and Nam June Paik, visualizing the progression from seminal video artists to a new generation of digital artists.
Exhibition Dates: January 5 - January 29, 2005
Special Events: Opening Reception Sat Jan 8, 2005 7-10pm,
Joined by Platform Gallery Opening Reception
Artist Talk- January 20th, 2005 at 7pm
Images shown: Tom Baumgartner’s Lotus .5 (Acrylic on Panel, 36" x 36", Dinnerware); Blake Shell’s The Thumb Gets Its Due –detail of work (Digital Imagery, 10”X 72”, Dinnerware) |
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