8/9/2000
Jeremy Blake
Pennsylvania Academy, Philadelphia
Digital Projections, a new installation of digital projections and large-scale C-print photographs by the emerging California-trained (M.F.A., Cal-Tech, 1995), New York-based artist Jeremy Blake, opens at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. The projections are typically abstract and geometric in design, and less than 10 minutes in length.
Digital Projections, a new installation of digital projections and large-scale C-print photographs by the emerging California-trained (M.F.A., Cal-Tech, 1995), New York-based artist Jeremy Blake, opens September 9 and runs through November 5, 2000 at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. The projections are typically abstract and geometric in design, and less than 10 minutes in length. They occasionally include representational details that imbue the moving pictures with an expository sensibility. The C-prints resemble film stills because of their panoramic format; in their draftsmanship, warmth, and ineffable finish, they also resemble paintings.
Blake's C-print photographs are not stills from his videos but their basic source material. The artist begins a given project by drawing a color image "by hand" on a computer, which he later animates to create the videos. The videos, or digital projections, engage the possibility of an animated modernist aesthetic by challenging distinctions between painting, photography, computer art, and video projection. There are no story lines, per se, only gradual, thoughtful metamorphoses of color, line, and shape accented with recognizable objects that emerge from and dissolve into the changing two-dimensional designs; past examples include a fireplace, tiki torch, computer control console, and snowflakes. The incidental subjects and grid-like compositions suggest abstract narratives that unfold like slowly changing architectural diagrams. However, the significance of these enigmatic animations transcends their captivating colors, particular transformations, and depictions.
Informed by an interest in 1970s television culture and the machinations of Hollywood deal-making, the projections manifest a cool yet critical wit and slick expressive content. Significantly, to achieve these suggestive results, the artist does not rely on overt displays of technological complexity. Rather, through his authoritative use of relatively basic computer applications and uncomplicated effects, Blake creates compelling visual narratives that operate on a variety of levels.
Organized by Jonathan P. Binstock, the Academy's Assistant Curator, this will be the first solo museum exhibition for Blake, who has recently been critically acclaimed as an artist of consequence on the contemporary American art scene. The artist will deliver an Art-at-Lunch gallery talk on Wednesday, November 1 at 12:15 p.m. A special $3 rate for his program includes Museum admission. For more information, call 215-972-7608.
Hours
Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Closed on major holidays
Closings:
Monday, September 4 closed in observance of Labor Day
Friday, September 22 closed for private party
Beginning October 2, the Museum will be closed on Mondays
Museum of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Broad and Cherry Streets
Philadelphia, PA 19102
(215) 972-7600