The Digital Art Guild’s current traveling exhibition, Homage, has just finished its stay at the Escondido Arts Partnership Municipal Gallery in San Diego, where the show was displayed from July 9 to August 21, 2010. Now, this sweeping exhibition of digital art will be heading for the Art Institute of California̶ where it will be displayed from September 11 to October 15, 2010. If you’re in the area, come by the opening reception for the show, which has been split into two parts:

Homage - Part 1, Opening Reception:  Friday, September 10th from 5 to 7 pm

Homage - Part 2, Opening Reception:  Saturday, October 9th from 3 to 5 pm

Homage - Contemporary Art in Digital Media

Art Institute of California-San Diego

7650 Mission Valley Road

San Diego, CA    92108

Tel:   858.598.1270   /  866.275.2422 

The show is curated by Joe Nalven and Jim Respess. Joe Nalven recently sent me the beautiful full color catalogue for the show, which showcases the excellent and varied work of 50 digital artists. Joe Nalven was kind enough to answer some questions about the show, which you’ll find in the brief interview below. Visit the Digital Art Guild Site for more information.

How did the show come about?

 

Our approach over the past several years has been to have larger shows rather than more shows - our aim was to have a robust show, something to show the breadth of digital art.

 

The director of the Escondido Arts Partnership was very pleased with our collaborative show the year before and she invited us back for 2010. That invitation reflected her confidence in our being able to put on a meaningful and enjoyable exhibit.

 

What was the idea or theme behind the show? What is it an “Homage” to?

 

Once we had the invite for the exhibit, we asked our members at several monthly meetings for themes -- and yes, we have the best meetings in town. I don't recall the other topics, but it generally is a contest between 'my latest best work' versus working within a theme. The theme requires more concentration, especially if it is really new work.

 

One of our members had been the head of the photography department at one of our local colleges and she suggested the idea of homage. We took a month to mull it over and did some online investigation. Of course, an homage can imply student work -- copying another's style in the learning process. But, homages can also invoke a variety of artistic traditions. To show that digital artists, like all other artists, even great artists, create artistic comments, we challenged our members to pursue the latter. We also widened the challenge to include homages to cultural concepts. One artist did his homage to electricity, following a walkabout in Vietnam and seeing the fantastic way electrical connections were being made. He also put it on metal to show that digital art can continue the adventure with a variety of substrates. While that is not new, it does remind the audience to think outside the stereotype.

 

 

Were you looking for commonality or an underlying theme among the artwork that was selected or were you wanting to cover more of a wide range of possibilities?   

 

One of our primary goals, as a Guild, is to be a platform for individual artistic growth. The organization is of secondary interest. Some art groups will jury others into the group; we felt that would be stagnating for us. Instead, we opted for a democratic model to allow in all comers, but with the idea that we all needed to take the opportunity to grow. We were not, and are, not complete. If David Hockney were to join our Guild, he would be expected to grow as an artist. Of course, he needs no help in that area, but the point is how we define our expectations. Each approach has its advantages and disadvantages. We opted for the risk of a great range of ability.

 

With that philosophy in mind, our curating (perspective) was really one of encouraging our members to optimize their concept and presentation. Some succeeded more than others. But that is part of the risk and challenge of any artist -- why not the group as well? We only refused one image that took us beyond this framework and would have been a distraction to the exhibit.

 

Is this the first touring show organized by the Digital Art Guild? If so, what made this the right time to do it?

 

Yes, it is our first touring show. But we have had two other shows that could be traveling shows. We explored the idea of how to do so economically with Dualities. We bought 17 x 17" plexi holders into which we could slide quality prints and these could be hung with two nails on the lip across the top of the holders. Once the Dualities exhibit was over, we put the prints in a clamshell box -- to go to sleep as it were, waiting for the moment to come alive and be re-hung. We were able to reuse these holders at our exhibit, titled Urban Legends and Country Tales. I arranged these images as pairs that were shown exactly the same way in the catalog as on the wall. Mel Strawn, a professor of art and one of the jurors in that exhibit, provides some thoughtful commentary about that show:  http://www.digitalartguild.com/content/view/49/26/

 

For this show, we were able to provide a hanging system that would be more cost-effective for artists living outside San Diego -- for those living in China, England, Canada, Australia and other states.

 

So, the idea of a traveling show has taken part in other conversations, of getting a broader range of participation outside the local community of Guild members. The growth dynamic is important. Digital artists have grown up with that dynamic by being in the digital communication medium as well as the digital compositing medium. What makes us a bit different is having the local face-to-face art community that has been enjoyed by the more traditional arts but less common among digital artists (except to the extent there are technical user groups).

 

If you hear of anyone who wants to bring our prints alive once more, they are ready to wake from their slumber.

 

Anything you’ve learned from this experience that you’d like to share with others who might be planning a touring show?

 

Putting on an exhibit always requires realism about resources (assuming the art is compelling). Putting on an exhibit that travels requires even more realism, or a guardian angel or manna from a foundation or the government. There is also the commitment of other institutions. Inventiveness is critical to those without established institutional clout or those who are not the darling of some recent fashion. We cannot kid ourselves about these factors.

 

Still, are we that different from the networks that museums or galleries develop? That makes a traveling exhibit more doable. I've often thought about those daring new galleries in different cities that might be interested in swapping shows. Perhaps a network of galleries across the country. I would think that galleries have a shorter planning horizon than most museums.

 

However, it is somewhat strange, but worth noting, that the greatest monetary successes in digital art (or computer art, or digital compositing, of FX artists, or whatever they are called) is in the special FX movies like Avatar. And these moving pictures have captured the popular imagination and travel simultaneously across the world in movie theaters.

 

So, there's a conversation about what moves the various publics that consume art. The elites, the teenagers, the gamers, those who live on the net, and those who actually wander into museums and art galleries. Traveling takes on quite a different meaning from these various segments of the world community.

 

Within that 2D flat fine is community. Traveling becomes constrained by bricks and mortar, resources and connections. One can only be inventive and dream .  .   .

 

 

What else would you like us to know about the show and the work in it?

 

Jim Respess, the show co-curator, and I had the opportunity of taking a leisurely walk through the exhibit with Kinsee Morlan, the art editor for City Beat in San Diego. I took pleasure in seeing all the art and being able to talk about the art and the artist. Quite different from the glad-handing at a reception; time to dwell on the art with someone with a dedicated interest. Yes, I could say to myself -- the exhibit, the art, the friends -- all of it, here, now.

 

Artists in the Show:

Ron Belanger

Charlie Anne Breese

Stephen Burns

Tom Chambers

Sergio Davila

John Engen

Max  Eternity

Joan Everds

Janine Free

Scott Graham

Joyce Harris Mayer

Valerie Henderson

Deborrah Henry

Phil Herwegh

JD Jarvis

Vladimir Konečni

Marc Krutiak

Kat Larsen

Dana Levine

Liz Lopes

Ernest Llynn Lotecka

Eileen Mandell

Judy Mandolf

Fred Marinello

Guy Mayenobe

Andrew Mercer

Abigail Migala

Kerry Mitchell

Joe Nalven

James Niles

Terri Pakula

Julie Rae

Harvey Reed

James Respess

Jill Rowe

Bob Snell

Renata Spiazzi

Helga E. Stark

Raymond St Arnaud

Michael Sussna

Eric Swenson

Walt Thomas

Pasha Turley

John Valois

Mary Waring

Michael Wright

Lee Zasloff

Kim Zuill