Tag: technology

Kohei Nawa at Pace Gallery

Pixels and biological cells are the focus of Japanese artist Kohei Nawa’s ‘PixCell’ artworks at Pace Gallery, sculptures that invite viewers to consider the relationship between the natural and artificial.  In this sculpture of a baby deer, the surface is rendered in spheres of various sizes, as if distorted by being viewed through a lens.  Transparent and appearing to rise up from the surface of the animal, the cells speak to the title of the show, ‘Aether,’ by giving the deer an ephemeral quality that belies its physical weight and form.  (On view through Oct 22nd).

Kohei Nawa, PixCell-Bambi #24 (Aurora), mixed media (glass beads, resin, Taxidermy, aluminum plate), 26 1/8 x 25 9/16 x 25 9/16 inches, 2021.

Doug Aitken at 303 Gallery

In his latest multi-screen video installation, ‘Wilderness’ at 303 Gallery, renowned artist Doug Aitken asks, “How far we will continue to evolve, and at what cost?”   Aitken’s last major show in ‘18 at his Chelsea gallery featured communications expert and cell-phone pioneer Martin Cooper pondering how connected we actually need to be.  Here, the artist takes this train of thought further, shooting footage on the beach near his Venice home to suggest land’s end as a kind of metaphorical end to pre-digital life.  Beachgoers mouth phrases like ‘You sound so sweet and clear but you’re not really there,’ but the audio is from AI generated digital voices.  Alluring and alarming, Aitken’s scenes give pause for thought as we witness hands photographing the sunset becoming hands that hail the new.  (On view through May 27th).

Doug Aitken, Wilderness, installation view, eight-channel composited video, 2022.

Jake Kean Mayman at Candace Madey

Though isolated and spare, the objects in Jake Kean Mayman’s painting in his current solo show at Candace Madey tap into complex histories and conversations about technology today.  Surprised by how ubiquitous microprocessors are, yet how little the average person knows about them, Mayman carefully renders a processor next to extra-lush raspberries and a sticker representing Raspberry Pi, a project intended to boost programming skills in schools. As such, the painting represents growth – raspberry vines have a lifespan approximating the time a young person takes to get through the educational system – and potential.  (On view on the Lower East Side through Dec 4th).

Jake Kean Mayman, Brambles of Industry, Druplets of Education (Raspberry Pi Foundation), oil on linen, 43 ¼ x 37 ¼ inches, 2021.

.DRIFT in ‘Group Presentation’ at Pace Gallery

It’s not unusual to consider where and how our everyday consumer goods were manufactured, but Amsterdam-based design team Studio Drift goes deeper.  Via their ‘Materialism’ project – samples of which are now on view in Pace Gallery’s current tech-friendly group show – Drift practices a kind of reverse engineering by breaking down light bulbs, cell phones and water bottles, as well as historic weapons and this bicycle, into component parts which are then displayed as pleasingly tidy arrangements of colorful cubes.  Guessing what each piece represents is an engaging game that ultimately prompts viewers to question how much we know about the goods we consume.  (On view on 25th Street in Chelsea through April 24th).

.DRIFT, Bicycle, rubber, polyurethane, steel, aluminum, lacquer paint, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS), polyoxymethylene (POM), gel, stainless steel, polycarbonate, brass, magnet and glass fiber sculpture: 7 7/8 x 31 ¼ x 13 3/16 inches, 2019.

Hannah Whitaker at Marinaro

New York photographer Hannah Whitaker departs from her usual complex, multiple exposure images in recent straight photographs at Marinaro that employ grids and gradients to create what looks like a digital environment for a lone female character.  Here, a shaft of light illuminates a sliver of her model’s otherwise dark body, suggesting that we’re seeing a fragment of what’s before us.  Imagined as a sister to digital avatars like Siri or Alexa, Whitaker’s new figure questions who our AI characters are and why they’re designed as they are.  (On view in Manhattan’s Two Bridges neighborhood through Jan 24th.  Masks and social distancing are required.)

Hannah Whitaker, Orange Eye, Slit, UV printed onto MDF with hand painted edges, 21 x 15 inches, 2019.