Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery, a new contemporary art gallery dedicated to the exhibition, study, and sale of moving image and photographic works, will open its doors to the public on Friday, September 19, 2003 with a group exhibition, ArtApparatus, on view through November 1, 2003. The gallery is located at 601 West 26th Street, Suite 1240, in the Chelsea art district, New York.
The exhibition program of the Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery will feature works by both emerging artists and those who have made significant contributions to the history and dialogue of contemporary media arts and photography. The inaugural exhibition, ArtApparatus, reflects this direction and includes some of today's most acclaimed media artists who continue to influence contemporary art practice. Artists Jim Campbell, Alan Rath, and John F. Simon Jr., who have each been included in the Whitney Biennial, come from backgrounds in science and mathematics, while Steina, who represented the Icelandic Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 1997, studied music theory. The group exhibition will include 15 works ranging from LED displays to installations that utilize custom electronics. A catalogue will accompany the exhibition with an essay by John G. Hanhardt, Senior Curator of Film and Media Arts at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.
Background on artists
Jim Campbell will exhibit his LED (Light Emitting Diodes) based work which explores the characteristics of physical movement in figures and nature through light and material. Campbell alters the perception of form by manipulating the speed and resolution of his filmed imagery, leaving the viewer with a visual impression rather than a specific narrative. The exhibition will feature both new and older works.
Campbell is best known for creating interactive artworks that incorporate new technologies. Through spontaneous interface, the viewer participates in the exploration of subject matter such as time and memory-both individual and collective, virtual and real. Campbell has exhibited his work internationally and throughout North America at institutions such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; Carpenter Center at Harvard University, Cambridge; and International Center of Photography, New York. Campbell's work is included in noted collections such as the Austin Museum of Art, Austin; Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe; and San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose. He received a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Recently, Campbell received acclaim for his public project, Primal Graphics, 2002, a 10-by-13 foot LED display commissioned by Creative Time, on view at Battery Park, New York. Born in Chicago, Campbell currently lives and works in San Francisco.
Work by Alan Rath will include his sculptural screen-based constructions that examine the mechanics of human behavior and its relationship with technology. An example of this is Rath's acclaimed work entitled Rover, 1998, a completely autonomous robot, which navigates its surroundings with the use of motion sensors. Rover behaves much like a watchdog, but like most of Rath's works, its presence is never menacing but rather playful and curious.
Rath typically constructs his work from available technology and various mechanics utilizing audio and video technology. He unites human and organic elements with mechanical sculptures, often employing a scientific perspective. He received his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has exhibited at numerous museums and cultural institutions including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; and The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield. His work is also found in the collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, among others. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Rath lives and works in Oakland, California.
John F. Simon Jr. is renowned for his technology-based art works using customized software applications and LCD panels. His work explores how the software age affects our creative process, challenging how the mind receives information manipulated by a computer program. Simon's work in the exhibition contemplates the depth of visual space with artworks that are programmed to create ever-evolving visual fields. Through the use of original software programs, the viewer witnesses the potential of perceivable patterns or visual noise.
Simon's work is included in several collections including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art and Bachelor of Science in Geology from Brown University, Master of Art in Earth and Planetary Science from Washington University, St. Louis and Master of Fine Arts in Computer Art from the School of Visual Art, New York. Simon is the recipient of the Trustees' Award for an Emerging Artist from the Aldrich Museum for Contemporary Art and a new media grant from Creative Capital Foundation. Originally from Louisiana, Simon lives and works in New York City.
Steina is a key figure in the history of video art and a pioneer of early forms of electronic art. Her work often incorporates video installation, sound, and interactive performance. Steina explores the pliability of perception of physical space with her mechanical video installation, Allvision. Through cinematic camera techniques, the work alters the viewer's orientation using multiple video monitors, a turntable, video cameras and a mirrored sphere. A real-time surveillance system relays reflections of the environment and transmits them live via closed-circuit television into two adjacent video monitors placed in the same room.
In 1971, Steina co-founded The Kitchen, an alternative electronic media and performing arts theater in New York, with her husband and artistic collaborator, Woody Vasulka. Steina has received the Maya Deren Award and the Siemens Media Art Prize. In 1997, she represented the Icelandic Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Steina has shown her work internationally and is represented in important collections including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; and Center for Art & Media, Karlsruhe. Steina has participated in festivals in Norway, Russia, Estonia, Portugal, Montreal, Great Britain and Italy. She has also shown extensively in Santa Fe, New Mexico, her hometown of 22 years.
Background on the Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery
The 2,400 square foot gallery was designed by architect Michael Gabellini and features a large rectangular exhibition space, high ceilings, offices and a facility for inventory. Gabellini has designed New York galleries such as Marian Goodman and Grant Selwyn, and completed commissions for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.
With over 15 years of art world experience behind him, Bryce Wolkowitz launches the gallery with an exhibition program that realizes both his personal and professional passions. In addition to his previous post as specialist in the Photography Department at Christie's Auction House in New York, Wolkowitz has worked with the International Center of Photography and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Raised in a family of art collectors, Wolkowitz has played a key role in developing his family's historical and contemporary photography collection. According to Wolkowitz, "I am extremely excited by the opportunity to exhibit work by artists I have admired for many years. My goal is to expose a generation of video and moving image artists to collectors unfamiliar with the medium and at the same time act in a supportive role to institutions and foundations firmly planted within the medium."