Art and Technology: From Eadweard Muybridge to Evan Grant

Anita Bunn, untitled, 2010, halftone photolithograph,
18" x 14" framed, included in Offramp's ArtZone exhibition,
December 11-19, 2010.

I'll start by introducing a new feature, this week's Image of the Week (right), by Offramp artist Anita Bunn. The photo, along with many other works by 27 artists, will be featured in our upcoming exhibition, ArtZone, from December 11 - 19. The opening reception is on Sunday, December 12, 2-5pm.

The sepia tones in Anita's photo got me thinking about the photos of Eadward Muybridge, often referred to as the Father of the Motion Picture. There is a Muybridge exhibition currently in London (through January 16), Muybridge at the Tate Britain. Highlights include a seventeen foot panorama of San Francisco and recreations of the zoopraxiscope, a method he developed of projecting animated versions of his photos.

For the occasion, the Tate is offering a free iPhone app, called . . . wait for it . . . the Muybridgizer! Users of the app can "Muybridge-ize their frames with grids and sepia tones, transforming their moving images into striking vintage-style pictures."

If you want to see more of Muybridge's images without traveling to the UK, I recommend his classic books, Animals in Motion and The Human Figure in Motion.

Skipping from 19th century technology to 21st, I came across this interesting BBC news video about light artist, Evan Grant, and his amazing 3D architectural projection mapping. Grant is the founder of "collective seeper," where he works as "director, developer and producer with a self-applied remit for innovation led wonderment."

Screen capture from Evan Grant's Battle of Branchage.

A little research led me to these videos of Grant's work: the Battle of Branchage, projected onto the walls of the third-century Gorey Castle, and this one, projected on Frank Gehry's  IAC Building in New York City.

What do you think? Art? Spectacle? Both? Feel free to comment below.



Upcoming Events at Offramp Gallery


Lea Anderson: Membrainchain installation

detail


Don't forget the closing reception & artist's talk for Lea Anderson: Membrainchain this Sunday, November 21, 2-5pm. The artist's talk will begin around 3pm.

Lea's show got a great review by James Daichendt in the Weekend edition of the Pasadena Star-News.

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Offramp artist, Myron Kaufman, will be reading from his illustrated children's book, Jack and Kate, this Friday, November 19 at the studio of Offramp artist, Quinton Bemiller.  Myron and Artist/Poet Jackie Tchakalian will read aloud while the book's images are projected in slide format. For more information and to RSVP, contact Quinton Bemiller via email (quinton.bemiller at gmail.com) or telephone 626.590.5584.