Remix, a solo exhibition of works by Reese Inman (Drawing Fellow ’08) opened yesterday at Gallery NAGA in Boston.
The show features paintings and drawings Reese created through a fascinating process: 1. Design computer software to produce patterns of dots, 2. Select the most intriguing patterns, 3. Then painstakingly render the patterns by hand. What with her emphasis on minute details, we thought Reese would be the perfect candidate for a similarly minute nano-interview.
MCC: What are you working on these days?
Reese: I’m in the programming phase of developing a group of new drawing algorithms, and am also developing a new body of paintings mixing algorithmic output (represented as paint droplets) and digitally blurred photographic imagery. Some of the paintings and a selection of burn drawings are on view at Gallery NAGA, Boston through March 28.
MCC: What’s the most surprising response to your art you’ve ever received?
Reese: During an open studio event a couple of years ago, a scientist introduced himself and told me that one of my paintings looked very much like a DNA microarray image. At the time, I didn’t know what a DNA microarray was, and had never seen an image of one. The next day, he emailed me a couple of images, and he was right – that particular painting actually did resemble a DNA microarray image!
MCC: Like, what does your work MEAN?
Reese: My work explores and reflects on everyday human interaction with computers. There’s a dialogue between me and the computer in which I write an algorithm, the computer runs it with a good deal of freedom (via random number generation), and then I render the output by hand. Computer process typically has the effect of concealing the programmer, but the hand rendering reinserts visual evidence of human involvement, while staying true to the composition created by the computer.
The opening reception for Remix is tonight (Friday, March 6), 6-8 PM, at Gallery NAGA in Boston. Remix runs through March 28. Along with showing at Gallery NAGA, Reese is part of the group show Blogpix at Denise Bibro Fine Art in New York, March 5-28. Read more Fellows Notes.
Images: Reese Inman, DIVERGENCE II (2008), acrylic on panel 30 x 30 in; Reese Inman, REMIX IV (2009), acrylic on panel, 40 x 80 in. See more images at reeseinman.com.
Leave a Reply