Attached please find images, short videos and information for the vibrant multimedia projection paintings that combine hard edge painting with digital new media by artist Matthew Kluber. Also included is a statement from the artist. These paintings are digitally and technically derived as they were inspired by the imagery created from the collapse of computer data in the early days of color monitors and crashing computers.
The artworks include the non-objective geometric painting on an aluminum panel that is hung on the wall, as well as the projector, mini-computer, custom software, keyboard and mouse that are required to generate the digital media and project the spectacular imagery onto the painted aluminum surface. The artwork is actually created on site by the mini computer using Kluber’s proprietary programming and software and at the interface of the 2 media when the digital projection meets the painted surface. Thus, the painting emulates the luminosity of a computer monitor, while the projection recreates the collapse and relaunch of the digital computer data.
Please let me know if you have any problems with any of the links to the short videos of the artwork in action and if you would like additional images and information.
David Eichholtz, Manager
David Richard Gallery, LLC
D(at)DavidRichardGallery(dot)com
P: (212) 882-1705
C: (917) 853-8161
Matthew Kluber Night on Disco Mountain, 2018
Alkyd on aluminum, custom software, computer, digital projection
Edition 4
Available in two sizes: 44" x 96” or 60” x 120”
This is a new artwork by Kluber.
Following is a stationary image of the projected painting:
Following is an image of the painting on aluminum panel without the projection.
Matthew Kluber Radio-Free Santa Fe, 2018
Alkyd on aluminum, custom software, computer, digital projection
Edition of 4
Available in two sizes: 44" x 96“ or 60” x 120”
This is a new artwork by Kluber.
Following is a stationary image of the projected painting:
Following is an image of the painting on aluminum panel without the projection.
Matthew Kluber
Friday I'm In Love, 2015
Alkyd on aluminum, custom software, computer, digital projection
Edition of 4
Available in two sizes: 44 x 96 “ or 60” x 120”
Following is a stationary image of the projected painting:
Following is an image of the painting on aluminum panel without the projection.
A great hard edge, geometric painting.
MORE ABOUT THE PROJECTION PAINTINGS:
The projections are like slow moving paintings. The artist creates the computer program and generates multiple layers of data (anywhere from 2 to 7 layers) that all come together in the final projections. Each layer of data has many imbedded variables and switches with each randomly selected and together controlling the speed and direction of the movement of the imagery, the duration of certain segments, and sequencing of segments to make the projected painting fresh and different - it never repeats any combination of segments or strings of images. Therefore, it is generated from the computer just as it is being projected on to the painting, which is much better than a video in that it is not repeating the exact same loop over and over. Moreover, since it is projected onto the painting on the aluminum support, when the projection is off, you still have a spectacular colorful, geometric painting to look at instead of a blank wall. The painting on the wall is an important and integral part of the artwork and helps create the novel interface of the painted surface and digital projection.
The specifications for the specific projector provided will depend upon the installation location— the variables include: the available distance between the projector and the aluminum panel, location of power source and the amount of ambient light in the space. The artist will work with you and the specific installation site and make recommendations.
Kluber's work is rooted in color theory, historical abstraction, painting and technology. Therefore, it works very well with optical art, hard edge and geometric painting and sculpture, Color Field painting, Light and Space sculptures, paintings, installations and interventions as well as a wide range of Post War abstraction and Contemporary art.
These projection paintings, albeit different technology, are evocative of the liquid light shows of the 1960s that created spectacular psychedelic backdrops for rock bands, such as Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Santana and others. Some of the biggest names developing and using that technology to produce those effects included: The Heavy Water Light Show, The Joshua Light Show, Light Sound Dimension (LSD), Brotherhood of Light and The Holy See for performances at Bill Graham’s Fillmore East, Fillmore West, Winterland Ballroom and Avalon Ballroom among many other venues in the US and internationally.
ABOUT MATTHEW KLUBER:
Light + Paint Matthew Kluber's work investigates the intersection of painting and digital technology, locating itself at the point where the physical world (traditional media) meets the virtual world (new media). Born in 1965,he placed at this intersection the ephemeral, un-located space of digital video is attached, by means of projection, to the fixed object of a painting, illuminating it with a new color space, code-derived content, and the element of time to construct a hybrid pictorial space. Matthew Kluber's paintings are composed of linear, geometric elements that reference the narrow, colorful, horizontal bands of data - signaling a crash - that had frequently filled the screen of my (former) computer. This downside of digital technology, its flaws and defects, provided a unique visual experience and became an unexpected, rich source of imagery. The thin horizontal stripes refer to that imploding data, while the picture plane alludes to the computer screen – resulting in a carefully edited version of a visual phenomenon normally associated with the breakdown of a system. The projections involve an innovative use of both hardware and software by:
a). Recontextualizing the use of hardware (digital projector) by transforming it into a painting tool. The carefully manipulated light of the projector upon the surface of the painting creates a new, hybrid color space. This new color space is the combination of subtractive color, the way we view a traditional painting, and of additive color, the mixture of red, blue and green light of the digital projector.
b). The projections are created with custom software written in C++ and Open GL, a powerful graphics tool used primarily to create video games. This software allows me to accomplish a wide range creative functions such as: the ability to crop the area of the projection to fit the exact dimensions of a painting, to manipulate the timing and fading of the projector; and to play multiple layers of video and motion graphics in specific areas of a painting. Additionally, encoded variables ensure that certain layers of imagery never play the same way twice. These layered, time-based, projections become painterly, cinematographic effects that animate and extend the surface of the paintings. Reference points for this work come from my interest in the historic changes brought about in art by the social and cultural upheavals and rapid developments in science and technology in the 1960’s and 70’s. These changes compelled a new generation of artists to address emotional disengagement, formal rigor, and anonymity of authorship in order to escape the art that had reached its height of influence in the form of Abstract Expressionism. In particular, I have had a long interest in the color-field painters Kenneth Noland, Gene Davis and Morris Louis; as well as light and space artists James Turrell, Robert Irwin, Doug Wheeler and Dan Flavin. They sought to dematerialize the art object; their work diffused the luminous effect of color so that the boundaries of the frame and material substance seemed almost incidental to the perceived intensities of continuous color and light sensation
David Eichholtz, Manager
David Richard Gallery, LLC
Copyright © 2019 David Richard Gallery, LLC. All rights reserved.
211 East 121 ST | New York, NY 10035
Hours: Wednesday through Saturday, 10:00 am - 6:00 pm | Sunday 12 noon - 6:00 pm | and by appointment
P: (212) 882-1705
C: (917) 853-8161