Lisa Gwilliam & Ray Sweeten (DataSpaceTime)
\n
January 4 – February 10, 2019
Opening Friday January 4, 6-9pm

Lisa Gwilliam & Ray Sweeten (DataSpaceTime), “Aura 600_c1”, 2018, inkjet print on archival paper, 36 x 36 inches – Courtesy of the artists and Microscope


Installation Views

Microscope is very pleased to present \n, the fourth solo exhibition at the gallery by the collaborative duo Lisa Gwilliam & Ray Sweeten (DataSpaceTime) debuting new computer drawings, video and infinitely generating moving image works created through original algorithms applied to photography and video shot by the artists.

The title \n is an embedded command indicating “new line here” and references the artists’ interest in the digital pixel/line as the base elements for the construction of an image. The works are also concerned with the interplay between the reality captured by the camera and the digital and virtual translation of light, reflection, and dimensionality among other properties.

Inkjet prints of two sizes – 54 x 36 and 36 x 36 inches — are generated with an algorithm that analyzes an image and transforms its colored pixels into abstract compositions that the eye perceives as lines, curves, ellipses, and other shapes with characteristics impossible to draw by hand. The original photography – which among others features buildings, the bark of trees, and inkblots – is erased to varying extents in the process, leaving instead layered and densely textured images that combine elements of the real and the electronic.

The three moving image works on view “Buoy”, “Corridors” and “Erased” are 3D environments created with WebGL and vector graphics – which originate as lines and simple geometric shapes – using a custom application that instantly and infinitely render the artists’ 3D imagery into new configurations. Collectively, these works point to the deficiencies and reinventions of the virtual in its re-staging of the physical world, especially with regards to the element of light as engineered by programmers for simulated reality. The original video material incorporated into these works — with its noise, pixelations, and other defects typical of a hi-def recording of reality — is re-contextualized in a seemingly flawless vectorial world, with viewpoints shifting throughout the space in randomized and endless trajectories.

Since their debut in 2011, Gwilliam & Sweeten have continued to stress the importance of making their own code in order to overcome the constraints imposed by commercial softwares and to reduce as much as possible the distance between themselves and the mediums they utilize.

\n runs from January 4th through February 10th, 2019, with an opening reception on Friday January 4, 6-9pm. Gallery Hours: Thursday through Monday, 1-6pm.

For additional information please contact the gallery by phone at 347.925.1433 or by email  at inquiries@microscopegallery.com

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Lisa Gwilliam & Ray Sweeten (DataSpaceTime) made their debut as the collaborative duo in 2011 with the solo exhibit “the optimal value for y” at Microscope Gallery. The artists use current technologies that are further developed or redirected, through the use of original coding, as a means to consider the culture of informatics and the thresholds of image recognition and perception across various mediums. Their work has been featured in institutional shows in the US and abroad including the solo exhibition “Cryptophasia” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) and in the group shows “Processed: To Each Their Own Image”, Center Pompidou, Paris, France; “Day In Day Out” at GEH8 Kunstraum und Ateliers, Dresden, Germany “Altarations”, Schmidt Center Gallery, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida, and “Dialogics”, Rowan University Art Gallery, New Jersey among others. Their 6-channel video “Breakout” was commissioned by The Parrish Museum for New York City Center where it was on view for a year. Gwilliam & Sweeten live and work in Brooklyn, New York.

Still from “Erased”, 2017, single-channel video, sound, 9 minutes 40 seconds – Image courtesy the artists and Microscope