Electric Objects is a digital art platform that wants to put digital art on a wall in every home. The company’s first two initiatives include the development of the EO1 display and Art Club collections.
EO1
EO1 is an Internet-connected screen designed specifically for art. In addition to displaying high-resolution images and digitally created art, EO1 can play video and animations. Priced at $299, EO1 fits elegantly into any home.
The matte 1080p high-definition display features ultra-wide viewing angles and ambient light awareness. It is not too bright and not too muted. The EO1 was designed to look more like a luminous oil painting than a glowing monitor.
The EO1 display. Art by Folkert Gorter.
With the free iOS or Android app, you can use your smartphone to change the art on the wall. You can explore thousands of artwork shared by the Electric Objects community or browse the curated collection of original work in Electric Objects’ Art Club. Display any art in the app with the tap of a button.
Art Club
Art Club is a collection of hundreds of original works of art made exclusively for Electric Objects. Through the Art Club, Electric Objects supports artists interested in making work for display on the EO1.
In 2016, the Electric Objects Art Club Fund expects to spend $100,000 to commission new works of digital art. Artists are selected through periodic open calls for applications. Selected artists receive a commission of $500 and a free EO1.
Display by Electric Objects. Art by Zolloc.
Electric Objects introduces new collections two or three times a week. They immediately invite EO1 owners to display the art in their homes.
Electric Objects has displayed the work of Art Club Artists at NADA Miami, the New Museum in New York City, and at the Electric Objects showroom in New York.
ARTISTS. Some excellent examples of how art is merging with science and technology will be on display in the art gallery at the SIGGRAPH 2013 Conference, July 21-25 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California.
Thousands of computer graphics and interactive technology professionals will attend the conference and exhibition to learn about emerging technologies and attend programs on research, science, art, animation, music, gaming, interactivity, education, and the web.
The theme of exhibition in the Art Gallery at SIGGRAPH 2013 is “XYZN: Scale.” The theme reminds us that a key advantage of computer-based art is the ability to iteratively scale digital representations at will –in-out-up-down, back and forth, + and -.
Exhibits in the SIGGRAPH 2013 art gallery will explore how artists take advantage of these capabilities in the construction or aesthetic effects of their work.
Here are just three of the exhibitions you can see in this year’s gallery.
In an exhibit of “Hybrid Basketry,” Amit Zoran of MIT Media Research Lab merges contemporary 3D printing and traditional craft. 3D printed structures are shaped to allow the growth and development of hand-woven patterns. While the 3D printed plastic elements contribute to the aesthetics of the digital curvatures and manifolds, the hand-woven reed, jute, and canvas fibers give the baskets a unique organic appeal.
In the exhibit “Visualizing Federal Spending,” Rebecca Ruige Xu of Missouri State University and Sean Hongsheng Zhai of Red Dot Blue Square have created 3D photorealistic compositions that provide a more aesthetically interesting view of government spending. The project uses procedural modeling with Python programming and Maya API to form organic flows of intermingled geometrical units to represent the profile of federal spending for each state. Total expenditures are scaled to a per capita basis to make different states comparable, while the overall surface area or volume occupied by each type of geometrical pattern represents its associated spending data.
Interdisciplinary artist and engineer Robert Twomey of the University of Washington will be showing a Drawing Machine.Laboring in place of the artist, the precision-controlled CNC device will work with unfaltering patience and inhuman precision to fill a sketchbook with images over the course of the exhibition.
On the SIGGRAPH website, you can find descriptions and links related to all 15 exhibits that will be featured in the Art Gallery. The creators of the works will be talking about the works during two “Art Talks” panel discussions on Wednesday, July 24. A reception for the artists, designers, and authors of the works selected for SIGGRAPH 2013 will be held Tuesday, July 23 from 2:00 to 3:30 pm in the art gallery.
Artists, galleries, and art fairs are continuing to test new ways to make art more accessible to a broader base of collectors. For example, the new digital-art platform EachOne.com gives art lovers affordable access to contemporary art being shown at exhibitions around the world.
Priced at just $20 for each 11 x 14 print, the digital art will be available exclusively from Each/One as an LTO Edition™ (Limited-Time-Only) solely during the duration of the exhibition.
Each/One is promoting these as original artworks that are unavailable elsewhere. These are not reproductions of existing art but rather original drawings, collages, photographs, or other pieces created or finalized in a digital environment.
As in a physical exhibition, the art is selected to represent a cultural, regional, or artistic theme. The works of art are chosen by established curators, galleries and art fairs.
From Dec, 7, 2012 until Jan. 6, 2013, you can buy an 11 x 14-inch print of this original digital artwork by Motomichi Nakmura for just $20 from www.eachone.com. The image is part of the “Fading Fast” exhibition curated by Trystan Bates of the Honeycomb gallery in Buenos Aires.
Once purchased, each original work is generated specifically for the buyer, using high-quality print-on-demand technology. Thus, the number of copies produced for a certain edition will be determined by the popularity of the artwork created for that particular exhibit.
Every artwork is printed on heavyweight silk paper and comes in a standard 11 x 14-inch format, with an additional 1-inch border displaying the name of the work, its unique number, and the artist’s digital signature and date. Artworks fit into a standard 16 x 20 inch frame with a mat, thus eliminating the need for custom framing.
Each/One presented its first two online exhibitions, Salaam Bombay and Succession of the Finest, to coincide with the physical opening of the shows at Art Asia Miami 2012 and Fountain Art Fair Miami 2012. Each/One is also hosting exhibitions that will only be accessible online. Fading Fast, curated by Trystan Bates of the Honeycomb Gallery in Buenos Aires, Argentina opened December 7 and runs until January 7.
The goal of Each/One is to create a new wave of art collectors by making digital art available to a broad public at an affordable price, said CEO and co-founder Pratima Björkdahl: “We believe that collecting art should be a creative and exciting experience. This new way to collect appeals to a whole new audience of art lovers and creates a new marketplace for galleries, curators and art fairs.”
“We have set an unheard-of price for original art because we believe that everyone should have affordable access to art they love. As we handle our own printing and distribution, we can avoid mark-ups, while ensuring the highest quality for our customers,” explained President and co-founder Rikard Björkdahl.
“Each/One just opened a whole new dimension for the art world, creating a global community and forum where we can all interact,” said Jasmine Wahi, curator of the Art Asia Miami 2012- Salaam Bombay exhibition. “This is the ultimate art experience and we are absolutely thrilled to be a part of it.”
“These online exhibitions, created specifically for the Each/One platform, are designed to let users engage with the art and its creators in a way that used to be possible only at art openings. Exploring the site is like getting a walking tour of contemporary art galleries but with all of the added benefits of online technology,” said Rebecca Jampol, curator of the Fountain Art Fair Miami 2012 – Succession of the Finest exhibition.
The founders of Each/One want to create a new kind of online art community where artists, curators, and collectors come together. With features such as blogs, interviews, curatorial notes and online discussions, users can engage with artists and exhibitions from all over the globe. Art lovers can also share their collections through social media, follow other collections and themes of interest, and sign up to receive notifications of upcoming exhibitions.
Art2pO has launched a way to buy and sell art in a digital format for display on high-resolution flat-screen TVs, tablets, and monitors. Buyers can browse the website www.Art2pO.com, searching for images by artist, price, color, country and genre (digital art, photography, or video art). Purchased images are delivered via secure download from the Art2pO website.
Each one-of-a kind or limited edition image is digitally watermarked by Digimarc and copy-protected using state of the art encryption. The image is assigned a unique registry number and is registered, along with the legal owner’s information, with the Digital Fine Art Association (DFAA). If the image is resold, the next purchaser is also registered with the DFAA and the image is re-watermarked.
The DFAA stores ownership information on every image sold to retain provenance and the ownership trail. Each image has a downloadable Certificate of Authenticity and a secure record verifying the artwork is authentic. Instructions on how to resell a piece of art are available in the website.
Artists who want to sell works through the site can upload their images to http://www.Art2pO.com along with a brief description of each piece. A commission on the selling price is charged to the artist on each sale. Artists may sell one of a kind images or a limited edition series. Galleries may buy and sell images and collections on behalf of artists as long as they have the artist’s written consent.
ARTISTS. Here is a brilliant example of an entrepreneurial artist who using today’s technology to create his own opportunities for greater exposure and sales.
The “Goldberg Lite” app created by artist Colin Goldberg lets art lovers use some of his original artworks as wallpaper for their iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touch devices. It is also the first app that combines wallpaper functionality with the ability to purchase signed limited-edition prints of each piece via the Etsy online marketplace.
Goldberg Lite app features works by artist Colin Goldberg
Goldberg’s artwork (some of which is currently on display at his “Paint and Pixels” solo exhibition at the Yes! Gallery in Brooklyn) explores the abstract imagery of the future. His influences include the New York School Abstract Expressionist painters of the 1950’s, graffiti art, and Shodo, the art of Japanese calligraphy.
The artwork images included in the app are based on works Goldberg has created over the past 12 years. The works featured in the “Mixed Media” section features Goldberg’s signature blend of painting and digital art. The pieces in the “Digital” section are abstract digital compositions drawn using a graphics tablet and vector-based imaging software.
Goldberg not only created the artwork for the app, but also designed the interface and functionality of the mobile application. The free app is now available in the Apple App Store. An ad-free version (simply called “Goldberg”) sells for $1.99 and includes 65 additional artwork images.
Paint and Pixels Exhibition at Yes! Gallery
The “Paint and Pixels” exhibition of Goldberg’s work at the Yes! Gallery opened December 17 and runs through January 13. At the exhibit, you can see the unique, multi-dimensional effects created when Goldberg superimposes computer-assisted strokes on traditionally painted surfaces. You may sense that we’re entering a new era, in which paint and pixels are merging to form a new visual language.
Over the past 20 years, Goldberg’s works have been exhibited across the United States, including shows at the Roberson Museum in Binghamton, New York, the Parrish Art Museum in Southampton, New York, and the Boston CyberArts Festival.
While living in Manhattan, the artist was commissioned by the Earth Day Network to create digital artworks which were projected 200 feet tall onto the Empire State Building during the Earth Day festival.
One of Goldberg’s canvasses resides in the permanent collection of the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center in Springs, New York, the former home and studio of painters Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner.
Audiovisual Art
In the Installations section of Goldberg’s website, you see several audiovisual pieces, including “Metavision,” which he created in collaboration with the German electronic musician Intersolar. For “Metavision,” Goldberg separated 12 of his abstract digital drawings into layers and used motion graphics software to create animation segments. These segments were then edited together in a video sequence. Intersolar created an original score for the piece, which was exhibited in 2011 on a projection-based video installation. Goldberg published the work as a limited-edition DVD.
