Paintbrushes and Pixels

REMEMBER THE EXCITEMENT of opening a super-size box of Crayola crayons for the first time? Neat rows of fantastic shades stirred the imagination. There was periwinkle, carnation pink, electric lime and radical red. Computers and advances in digital technology give artists that same dose of childlike inspiration, with seemingly endless choices.

More than 80 artists—15 from San Diego—have been chosen to display the results of their creative exploration at the International Digital Exhibition, opening April 29 at the San Diego Art Institute in Balboa Park. Marilyn Kushner, curator of prints and drawings at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, juried the show. She viewed 900 submissions from a dozen countries before making her final selections.

“I went with my gut feeling,” says Kushner. “I didn’t look at how the image was made; I looked at aesthetics. Artists are using digital technology to create things we never thought possible, and a great artist will push those boundaries.”

Digital technology gives artists the ability to create orginal works by altering or enhancing reality. Photograph-manipulation software offers a plethora of enlargers, filters and electronic brushes, and virtually anything on a flat surface can be visually captured and the image then manipulated.

Consider Michele Guieu’s Landscape II, chosen for the exhibition. She began by photographing two children playing in the sand. Then she transferred the film to her computer and edited out the background. The children’s profiles were used to create an image that implies realism, but there are no sharp lines or angles. The figures are filled in with black and trimmed in red, set against a white background. The final work has the stark impact of a Rorschach inkblot, yet there’s a dreamlike quality, as if Guieu captured an outline of something once real and now only remembered.

“I’m fascinated by digital media; it enriches my world and my work,” says Guieu, who was born and schooled in France but is now a San Diego resident.

Digital painting is another featured technique. It entails using a digital wand or brush to “paint” directly on the computer screen in a series of layers. A playful example is Self Portrait by San Diegan Jim Respess, a founding member of the Digital Art Guild. The picture reflects the artist painting himself on a canvas. Half of the work is a line drawing; the other half is filled in with color.

The International Digital Exhibition not only showcases the imaginative ways artists can express themselves, it underscores the widespread use of an exciting medium.

“It’s a natural thing to use new technology as a tool to create images,” says Kushner. “It’s hard to predict the future, but the use of computers is here to stay.”

(Sponsored by Sony, the International Digital Exhibition opens with a gala reception and awards presentation on April 29 at 6 p.m. at the San Diego Art Institute, House of Charm, Balboa Park. The show continues through June 11. Information: 619-236-0011; sandiego-art.org.)

Do you like what you read? Subscribe to San Diego Magazine »