Digitally Derived: Fine Art in the Age of the 'Toon
Group Exhibition: Roy Lichtenstein, Monique Prieto, Carl Fudge, Julian Opie
March 29 - June 21, 2003
A group exhibition featuring the work of four well-known artists that specifically look at the use of cartoon and digital processes to create and inspire their unique works.
Roy Lichtenstein (New York b.1923) eliminated the distinction between cartoons/comics and high art. In two major ways he appropriated from the cartoons and comic strips of the popular press. He eliminated chiaroscuro, simplifying images into hard line and blocks of unmodulated color or merely the pure white of the paper. In many cases Lichtenstein substituted the benday dots of rotogravure printing as a short hand for shadows. Secondly, he took the one-word sound bite of the comic strips ("OOPS," "RAT-TAT-TAT," "POW") and made it a principal part of the image, eliminating comic strip narrative entirely but making text a permanent part of Contemporary Art.
Monique Prieto (Los Angeles b. 1962) uses the computer to generate art that has a completely handmade look. Using Painter 3 Mac software she draws in color with her fingers on the tiny touchpad of her laptop. She paints from the small images she prints out when they seem right. Each shape represents a character.
Carl Fudge (London b. 1962) uses digital technology as an intermediary step, exploiting the computer's facility for subtle control of composition and color before returning to more traditional media to create the final work. The computer image, somewhat resembling a complex motherboard, is augmented by means of hand-cut stencils and fourteen screens.
Julian Opie (London b. 1958) works from photographs, feeding them into a computer to distill the essential forms, eliminating all extraneous detail. The images the artist presents are seemingly simplified and standardized versions of reality. Nevertheless, Opie's work maintains a profound, delicate, and often intimate relationship between the form and content.
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