Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery announces the first New York solo gallery exhibition of the work of artist Jim Campbell. Entitled Material Light, the show will be on view March 18 through May 14, 2005, with an opening reception for the artist on Friday, March 18, from 6-8pm. The gallery is located at 601 West 26th Street, Suite 1240, in the Chelsea art district, New York.
For nearly 20 years, Campbell has been creating some of the most innovative technology-based artwork seen today. Campbell pairs "custom electronics"--with the use of L.E.D (Light Emitting Diodes) and additional materials in the form of resin, Plexiglas and still photographs, among others. Campbell has produced unique designs for custom hardware and software by way of his background in engineering and mathematics. These developments have led to groundbreaking installations and sculptural works establishing Campbell as one of the pioneers of new media art.
Campbell's interactive work typically explores the characteristics of physical movement in figures and nature through light and material. Campbell is considered a master at altering the perception of form by manipulating the speed and resolution of his filmed and captured imagery, offering the viewer a penetrating visual impression rather than a specific narrative. Through the spontaneous interface, the viewer participates in the exploration of time and memory-both individual and collective, virtual and real.
Material Light comprises Campbell's most recent investigations from the Ambiguous Icons series (2000-2004), exploring the relationship between information and meaning in the context of compressed levels of information.
Library (2004) is the artist's first combination of L.E.D and analog photography. A high resolution photogravure of the New York Public Library affixed to a sheet of Plexiglas suspended in front of a L.E.D surface, engages the viewer in the energy of the city street as the silhouettes of people walk by the Library, passing through the frame. This work is the longest duration of any video footage in Campbell's work to date (approx 25 mins). It is also on view in Campbell's SITE Santa Fe solo exhibition, Quantizing Effects: The Liminal Art of Jim Campbell, through May 1, 2005.
Other works on view will include Bus Stop (2003). Using a similar scale and technique to Library, Bus Stop presents a typical New York street scene displaying abstract figures as they walk along Fifth Avenue. The work is reminiscent of the street photography of Lee Friedlander, Garry Winnogrand and Harry Callahan of the late 1950's and 1960's.
World Trade Center (2004) depicts on lookers standing in front of a generic urban site. Only the title unveils the scene; spectators are actually staring at the site of what was once the Twins Towers. Because Campbell has positioned his camera behind the contemplative observers we directly participate in their meditative experience.
Wave Modulation (2003) runs on a 20-minute loop. It incorporates low resolution and time variation L.E.D. and electronics to delve into the notion of nature-based visual abstraction, as the movement of waves slowly culminates into a static point to finally resume its cycle.
In order to emphasize the diversity of Campbell's techniques as well as the evolution of his themes and subjects, Material Light will also present earlier works such as Reconstruction #1 (2002), made from a thick caste resin screen, and Wavelengths (2002), a five-section L.E.D work with diffusion screens that was recently displayed at the Museum of the Moving Image, New York.
According to the artist, "My Ambiguous Icons projects essentially started with the question 'How and what kind of meaning can be expressed with very small amounts of information?'" and adds that "as in other forms of visual abstraction, associative thinking processes play a larger role than linear or narrative thinking in the interpretation of an image."
Jim Campbell was born in 1956 in Chicago, IL. He earned a degree at M.I.T. in Electrical Engineering and Mathematics in 1978, and now lives and works in San Francisco, CA. Campbell's work is in the collections of some of the country's most important museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Cincinnati Art Museum and the Berkeley Art Museum. Campbell's' work is currently featured in a solo exhibition at SITE Santa Fe, through May 1, 2005. Campbell has also earned several public art commissions and his awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship Award, a Langlois Foundation Grant, and a Rockefeller Fellowship Award in Multimedia, among others. Campbell's work has been extensively reviewed and published in some of the most important art journals and newspapers worldwide.