Art Made of Electronics and LED Lights
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Home Movies 1040, 2008
(Olivia Body, Courtesy of the Museum of the Moving Image)
Jim
Campbell moved to Silicon Valley in the late seventies to design
computer chips. But on the weekends, he moonlighted as an artist,
manipulating technology to create electronic art.
"I've
always had kind of a split personality," Campbell said. "I've had the
nerd side which goes one way, and then the frustrated nerd side that
kind of needs to create or needs to expand."
The
Museum of the Moving Imagine in Queens opened Campbell's survey
exhibition titled "Jim Campbell: Rhythms of Perception" Friday, his
first solo museum show in New York. The show includes three decades of
work, from experimental film to large-scale installations.
The
exhibition features many of his best-known pieces that experiment with
low-resolution imagery. In Home Movies, 1040-1, Campbell projects his
own childhood home videos on a large-scale grid of LED lights,
abstracting the images.
"The
low resolution eliminates the details in peoples' faces and things, so
the home movies become kind of universal," Campbell said. "It could be
your home movie there."
The
rarely shown Last Day in the Beginning of March is also on display. The
room-size installation involves suspended light bulbs and a soundscape
Campbell said recreates the last day of his brother's life.
"It's
fairly abstract and kind of expressionist," Cambell said. "But once you
read the labels and you walk around, it kind of gradually comes
together. It's a work that's really more about feeling it than looking
at it. It's more about feeling the space."
Also
on display is Exploded View (Commuters), a work that includes footage
from Grand Central Station the museum originally exhibited in 2011.
The
exhibition coincides with a show now on view featuring Campbell's new
work at the Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery in Chelsea. Campbell will also
collaborate this week with the Alonzo King LINES Ballet for
Constellation, a performance that features a light sphere installation
synchronized with the dancers' movements.
A computer engineer-turned-artist is having his first solo museum exhibit in New York.
Campbell moved to Silicon Valley in the late seventies to design
computer chips. But on the weekends, he moonlighted as an artist,
manipulating technology to create electronic art. "I've always had kind
of a split personality," Campbell said. "I've had the nerd side which
goes one way, and then the frustrated nerd side that kind of needs to
create or needs to expand."
Jim Campbell (American, b. 1956). Memory/Recollection, 1990 Video camera, five CRTs, PC computer, custom electronics.
The exhibition is his first solo museum show in New York. It
includes three decades of work, from experimental film to large-scale
installations.
The exhibition features many of his best-known pieces that
experiment with low-resolution imagery. In Home Movies, 1040-1, Campbell
projects his own childhood home videos on a large-scale grid of LED
lights, abstracting the images. "The low resolution eliminates the
details in peoples' faces and things, so the home movies become kind of
universal," Campbell said. "It could be your home movie there."
The rarely shown Last Day in the Beginning of March is also on
display. The room-size installation involves suspended light bulbs and a
soundscape Campbell said recreates the last day of his brother's life.
Jim Campbell (American, b. 1956) Divide, 2005 Custom electronics, 768 LEDs, treated Plexiglas.
"It's fairly abstract and kind of expressionist," Cambell said.
"But once you read the labels and you walk around, it kind of gradually
comes together. It's a work that's really more about feeling it than
looking at it. It's more about feeling the space."
Also on view is Exploded View (Commuters), a work including footage from Grand Central Station.
Jim Campbell's 'Portrait of my mother' (1996) and 'Portrait of my Father' (1994-1995).
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