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San Diego Magazine /  November 2007 /  Worlds Collide Artfully

Worlds Collide Artfully

A writer’s journey into the collision of high art and high-tech

BY KAILA TRICASO

Moving in the direction of the Lyceum Theatre in downtown’s Horton Plaza, I check my purse and pockets for the only defenses I’ve brought—a notepad and pencil and an incredibly sophisticated pair of Jean LaFont reading glasses. There’s no telling what a girl like me—the only person I know who would turn down a free Blackberry in favor of hand-writing everything—is going to do with the flood of technological genius at “The Art of Digital Show.” My mind races with the barrage of incomprehensible high-tech images I picture lurking on the walls.

My first human encounter is pleasant—two women offer me a complimentary catalog for the exhibition and free six-hour parking validation—and I’m told that Neal Benezra of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is the director and juror for the exhibition. Exotic electronic beats mix with the energetic murmuring of the crowd, and the sleek lines of the staircase and the ambience of modern lighting, mixed with vintage theatrical details, create a dramatic urban vibe. A delightful seared ahi hors d’oeuvre is complemented with a taste of local San Diego wine, and I begin to feel like Charlotte from Sex in the City … stylish, urbane and intellectual—until I’m bumped from behind. Wine spills on my catalog, and I’m snapped back to reality.

The bumper apologizes and introduces himself as Ken Fermoyle, digital artist and photographer. His piece, Cosmic Totems, is beautifully chaotic, calling to mind the totems of the Pacific Northwest through its colors and vertical lines. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen. Fermoyle explains that his original photograph—of a sailboat in Venice—was duplicated several times in soft focus and then manipulated into the image before me. Perhaps the most interesting thing about this digital artist is his vintage—he’s 80 years old. I try to let go of the fact that though he’s a senior citizen he could school me in all forms of digital awareness. I focus instead on admiration—at any age, Ken Fermoyle is truly enlightened.

After that, Rusty Scruby’s Washington and Race catches my attention. Several inches from my face, the piece is an indistinguishable grid of colors and shadows. I step back several feet and recognize a blurry picture of a stop sign with cross streets above it. How could such an organized and repetitive structure create the hazy effect of the piece from a distance? As I stare harder, my eyes start to hurt, and I entertain the momentary suspicion these artists, with their computerized trickery, are conspiring against me.

The paranoia is stifled with wine, and I make my way to the bottom level of the gallery, where a square structure is covered on all four sides by small plasma-TV screens, each with two small sets of headphones. The area is a nonstop bustle of people waiting to take their turn at individual art immersion. At first I think the proximity of the wine table may have something to do with the line, but soon I find something exceptional—the art is actually moving, morphing and emitting sound.

My interest piqued and my defenses lowered, I begin to look at each of the 104 pieces from artists across the globe. When touched with digital processes, everything from paintings and drawings to sculpture, videos and photography takes on a different feel. The inorganic is effortlessly brought to life, the creepy exerts beauty, and the norm is twisted into something unexpected. The most common of mediums are infused with new vibrant energy, though what they’ve been infused with is invisible to the untrained eye.

Art isn’t about the process surrounding its conception, but the final creation and the emotions it rouses in the viewer. Neal Benezra, the San Francisco curator, shares the sentiment. And in his judge’s comments, explaining that he’s a person without a lot of digital knowledge, he says, “While some might consider this professed lack of technical expertise or understanding a problem, by contrast it seems to be a real advantage since it enabled me to approach this material with genuinely fresh eyes.”

Benezra’s words and the “Art of Digital” experience are a breakthrough for a technophobe like me. I realize I’m a qualified judge of digital art, too, and that, as with all art, this gallery has something for everyone. Whether you’re a computer whiz or total amateur, if you possess an appreciation for the arts, “The Art of Digital Show” is bound to exceed expectations.

“The Art of Digital” is on display at the Lyceum Theatre, 79 Horton Plaza, downtown, until November 11. For more information, visit artofdigitalshow.com.

For more information on the Video Art Festival at the Lyceum Theatre Gallery, on October 29, go to artofdigitalshow.com/Video_Art_Festival.html