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Jim Campbell
Far Away Up Close, 7 September - 14 October 2017
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Jim Campbell: Far Away Up Close

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Overview
Jim Campbell, Far Away Up Close

Through constantly-evolving and continually innovative iterations, Jim Campbell parses one of the most fundamental questions regarding the human mind: what enables us to interpret and understand the world around us?

 

The 15 new works in this exhibition should, in theory, defy comprehension. They are either so low resolution (too little information) or so high resolution (too much information) that the viewer should not be able to understand the imagery depicted. Campbell’s works, however, activate our most primitive neural and sensory processes for interpreting visual clues like shape, movement, rhythm, and color. Tapping into these instincts, combined with the human capacity for complex memory and the ability to extrapolate, Campbell experiments with digital representation as a metaphor for the transmutation of data into knowledge.

 

Campbell’s pieces are unique among artists using technology — not only because he designs and builds the computer systems that make them function. More significantly, his choice of media is conceptually linked to his message: he uses technologies developed for information transfer and storage to explore human communication and memory. His is not technology used merely to wow, but to consider the relationship of our minds to the technologies we’ve created.

 

To be completed within the next few months and visible for decades to come, Campbell’s artwork on the top nine stories of the exterior of San Francisco’s new Salesforce Tower — the tallest building on the West Coast — will fundamentally alter the Bay Area skyline as well as the nature and purpose of public art. Unlike any permanent public artwork to date, Campbell’s piece will change daily, as a direct reflection of the life of the city in which it exists.

 

Jim Campbell was born in Chicago in 1956 and moved to San Francisco after earning degrees in mathematics and engineering from MIT. He transitioned from filmmaking to interactive video installations in the mid 1980s, and began using LEDs as his primary medium in 2000. His custom electronic artworks and installations have made him one of the leading figures in the use of computer technology as an art form.

 

Campbell’s works are in the collections of MoMA, SFMOMA, Whitney Museum of American Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and many others. In addition to the new installation for the Salesforce Tower, Campbell’s numerous public commissions include The Journey at the San Diego airport, Exploded Views for SFMOMA’s atrium lobby, Scattered Light in Madison Square Park (New York), Exploded View (Cowboys) for the Dallas Cowboys Stadium, and a forthcoming work, in collaboration with Werner Klotz, in the new San Francisco central subway in Union Square.  Jacob’s Dream, a collaborative installation with Benjamin Bergery, is currently on view at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.

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Works
  • Still image of a rectangular aluminum board with metal rods arranged more densely towards the right side. On the ends of each rod multi-colored LEDs are mounted and they shine soft glowing circles on the surface of the board
    Jim Campbell
    Exploded Flat 2, 2017
    aluminum, 73 LEDs, fiberglass pegs, custom electronics
    48 x 72 x 4 1/2 in
    121.9 x 182.9 x 11.4 cm
    Inquire
    %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EJim%20Campbell%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3EExploded%20Flat%202%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E2017%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3Ealuminum%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E73%20LEDs%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Efiberglass%20pegs%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Ecustom%20electronics%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E48%20x%2072%20x%204%201/2%20in%3Cbr/%3E%0A121.9%20x%20182.9%20x%2011.4%20cm%3C/div%3E
  • Still image of a rectangular piece with multiple LEDs behind Plexiglass that displays a highly pixelated and blurred city street scene The scene to the right side is black and white and has more clarity due to a higher density of LEDs while the scene at the left appears more pixelated due to fewer LEDs
    Jim Campbell
    Data Transformation 2, 2017
    custom electronics, LEDs, treated Plexigas
    34 3/8 x 74 x 3 3/4 in
    87.3 x 188 x 9.5 cm
    Inquire
    %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EJim%20Campbell%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3EData%20Transformation%202%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E2017%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3Ecustom%20electronics%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3ELEDs%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Etreated%20Plexigas%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E34%203/8%20x%2074%20x%203%203/4%20in%3Cbr/%3E%0A87.3%20x%20188%20x%209.5%20cm%3C/div%3E
  • Still image of multiple multi-colored LEDs blurred behind thick block of resin show people walking through a crowd in the twenty seventeen Women’s March in Washington DC
    Jim Campbell
    Blur V, 2017
    custom electronics, 300 LEDs, cast resin
    18 x 22 1/4 x 6 in
    45.7 x 56.5 x 15.2 cm
  • Still image of a spread out grid of twelve square pieces with multi-colored LEDs behind Plexiglass. The LEDs display pixelated scenes of protestors from the twenty seventeen Women’s March in Washington DC
    Jim Campbell
    Scattered 12x (Women's March on Washington), 2017
    custom electronics, 432 LEDs, treated Plexiglas
    47 x 64 x 3 in
    119.4 x 162.6 x 7.6 cm
    Inquire
    %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EJim%20Campbell%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3EScattered%2012x%20%28Women%27s%20March%20on%20Washington%29%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E2017%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3Ecustom%20electronics%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E432%20LEDs%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Etreated%20Plexiglas%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E47%20x%2064%20x%203%20in%3Cbr/%3E%0A119.4%20x%20162.6%20x%207.6%20cm%3C/div%3E
  • Gif of rectangular piece with multiple LEDs behind Plexiglass that displays a highly pixelated and blurred city street scene The people to the right side of the image are black and white and have more clarity while the figures at the left side are colorful but very blurred and abstracted
    Jim Campbell
    Data Transformation 3, 2017
    custom electronics, 1,069 LEDs, treated Plexiglas
    33 x 65 1/2 x 2 1/2 in
    83.8 x 166.4 x 6.3 cm
    Inquire
    %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EJim%20Campbell%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3EData%20Transformation%203%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E2017%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3Ecustom%20electronics%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E1%2C069%20LEDs%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Etreated%20Plexiglas%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E33%20x%2065%201/2%20x%202%201/2%20in%3Cbr/%3E%0A83.8%20x%20166.4%20x%206.3%20cm%3C/div%3E
  • Still image of metal rods protruding out of a wall and arranged more densely towards the center of the piece. On the ends of each rod multi-colored LEDs are mounted and they shine soft glowing circles on the surface of the wall which display a scene of a crowd splitting in two at the twenty seventeen Women’s March in Washington DC
    Jim Campbell
    Splitting the Crowd, 2017
    custom electronics, 713 LEDs
    120 x 240 in
    304.8 x 609.6 cm
    Inquire
    %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EJim%20Campbell%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3ESplitting%20the%20Crowd%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E2017%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3Ecustom%20electronics%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E713%20LEDs%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E120%20x%20240%20in%3Cbr/%3E%0A304.8%20x%20609.6%20cm%3C/div%3E
  • Photograph of an ancient Greco-Roman multi-colored mosaic depicting two people in a square lightbox. In front of the lightbox a piece of Plexiglass hangs and blurs the mosaic
    Jim Campbell
    Mosaic Study 20, 2017
    color photographic transparency mounted in lightbox with treated Plexiglas diffusion screen
    20 1/2 x 20 1/2 x 13 in
    52.1 x 52.1 x 33 cm
    Inquire
    %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EJim%20Campbell%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3EMosaic%20Study%2020%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E2017%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3Ecolor%20photographic%20transparency%20mounted%20in%20lightbox%20with%20treated%20Plexiglas%20diffusion%20screen%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E20%201/2%20x%2020%201/2%20x%2013%20in%3Cbr/%3E%0A52.1%20x%2052.1%20x%2033%20cm%3C/div%3E
Installation Views
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Jc1
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Jc2
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Jjsample3 1024X577
Press
  • Buried Thought, 2017, custom electronics, 600 LEDs, painted clear Plexiglas, 23 1/2 x 34 x 1 3/4 inches

    Poetic Pixelation, Perceptual Politics: Jim Campbell @ Hosfelt

    Marcia Tanner, Squarecylinder, October 2, 2017

Related artist

  • Jim Campbell

    Jim Campbell

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