Opening reception: Thurs., May 21, 6PM — 8PM
Eyebeam Center for Art and Technology
540 West 21st St
New York, NY
Drawing Contemporaries, curated by Eyebeam senior fellow Michael Mandiberg, is an exhibition of works on paper made by a peer group of new media artists who all make drawings, either as a primary object, or as an experimental step in their process. The artists often use computers or algorithms as a logic structure or drawing aid in a way that is foregrounded in these works. Many of these artists are Eyebeam affiliated, but all are contemporaries whose influences upon each other can be traced in this exhibition.
Darren Kraft uses powdered graphite to photorealistically reproduce icons and logos associated with consumer and political culture; Eyebeam senior fellow Steve Lambert and Julia Schwadron write personal and poetic messages of hope which they leave taped up in public places; Michael Mandiberg uses the laser cutter to etch and carve works on paper that incorporate text, history and design; Marisa Olson performs Google image searches for obsolete technologies, and traces their contours directly off her laptop screen with a mechanical pencil; and Lee Walton creates elaborate indexes of possible graphic marks which are algorithmically used to document events as they occur. His subjects range from from pedestrian traffic to sports games.