A quarterly, of sorts. The Art of The iphone Fall 2011 Issue Giorgi Gallery Berkeley Second Annual Global Review September 22 October 30, 2011
Our fine arts were developed, their types and uses were established, in times very different from the present, by men whose power of action upon things was insignificant in comparison with ours. But the amazing growth of our techniques, the adaptability and precision they have attained, the ideas and habits they are creating, make it a certainty that profound changes are impending in the ancient craft of the Beautiful. Paul Valéry, Aesthetics P1XELS magazine is published intermittently. This edition of P1XELS is 2011 by Knox Bronson. All Rights Reserved Cover illustration is Stowaways by Cindy Patrick and is 2011 by Cindy Patrick. All Rights Reserved All copyrights for the work in this issue are held by the individual artists and all rights are reserved. For licencing, prints, etc. please contact info@pixelsatanexhibition.com or call 510-612-6124. Snailmail: Knox Bronson 6389 Dana St. #6 Oakland, CA 94609
Mondaine des Arnaqueurs Knox Bronson Much of the beauty that arises in art comes from the struggle an artist wages with his limited medium. Henri Matisse 1
P1xels presents P1xels Comes Home to the Giorgi Gallery September 22 October 30, 2011 I sit, as I write, in the Giorgi Gallery of Berkeley, surrounded by works I love from P1xels artists around the world. It is Sunday afternoon. The sun is shining outside, obscured every so often by an errant wisp of cloud; a slight breeze pushes fresh air through the gallery and the music of Erik Satie, patron saint of P1xels, completes the perfection of the moment. What usually happens at moments like this is I fall asleep in the chair, only to be awakened by people entering the gallery. Today I must finish this issue of P1XELS, so I am going to cheat a little. I look at the pictures and I think about how far the global iphonic art movement has come in less that two years, in terms of the work, the community itself, awareness and acceptance in the public consciousness, and the promise of the future. Little did I know what forces were being unleashed at the end of 2009 with the call for submissions for our first show. The timing couldn t have been better: iphonic art had just emerged from its infancy online and the work was ready to be printed and put on the wall, or so it seemed to us. It s been a runaway train ever since. Here are some answers to an interview I did for a large Hong Kong lifestyle magazine recently. Since it will be published in Chinese, I don t think they will mind me publishing excerpts in English here. I leave it to you, dear reader, to guess the questions. In 2009, I started taking pictures with my iphone of my cat, Baby, for her website http:// babysnohelp.com. In October I discovered two apps, ToyCamera and Best Camera, and started taking pictures of everything. I showed the apps to Maia Panos and she started making beautiful pictures very different from mine her picture Tree was incredible and it occurred to me that we were dealing with a new artistic medium. I was friends 2
with Rae Douglass at the Giorgi Gallery in Berkeley. I proposed a show of iphone photography what we called it back then and he said yes. We were off and running. We ve done a number of shows since and the work produced by the community just keeps getting better. I have witnessed the reaction of people to the prints hundreds of times and they love the work and cannot believe that such beautiful and striking images are created on the little iphone. People said photography was not art 100 years ago. People said digital photography was not art thirty years ago. And now they are saying this is not art, or dismissing the work as push-button Monets. In my experience, most people who are threatened by the movement are usually people in the photography/art world who are simply jealous of the attention the new work is getting. It is indeed art. It is beautiful and vibrant work. As I said, I have observed, closely, people taking in the work (more than any other person on earth I am certain) and reacting viscerally to the aliveness and beauty of it all, over and over. I know artists who work on one picture for a week, or more, on their iphones. I can tell you, from my deep connections within the global iphonic art community, as well as my lifelong study of art and art movements, that this community of artists is filled with people as passionate, talented, disciplined, and crazy as any other art movement or milieu in history, i.e., the Left Bank of Paris in the twenties, the jazz scene of New York city, or the Beats in San Francisco... I lean toward it being a new medium, an emergent and still-underground art form. It starts with a digitally captured image, so it is photography in that sense, but by the time the artists are finished with apping the image, it often looks more like a painting than a photograph. If you walked into any exhibit we have produced and looked at the art on the walls, you would not immediately think it was a photographic exhibition: they look more like prints, silkscreens, paintings, mixed in with a few photographs. That wasn t the whole interview. I can go on about iphonic art for hours. I have been living and breathing it every single day for almost two years now. It is a constant joy as I have gotten to know these artists around the world and have watched the community and the work it produces evolve and grow. We are still at the beginning. Okay, the lazy man can nap now. Knox Bronson, October 2, 2011 PixelsAtAnExhibition.com 3
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Tattoo Andrea Mdos Barcelona, Spain 5
Blowing His Own Horn Abigail Ee Singapore 6
Til The Next Rainy Day Abigail Ee Singapore 7
Chilli Aaron Davis Cairns, Far North Queensland, Australia 8
Chair Adam Mead New York, New York 9
Michiyuki II Alan Kastner Tokyo, Japan 10
Eddie n Victor Alan Kastner Tokyo, Japan 11
Hot Seat Alan Kastner Tokyo, Japan 12
Dawn Approaches Alan Kastner Tokyo, Japan 13
The Loop Alexander Keele Chicago 14
Crazy Sexy Cool Alexander Keele Chicago 15
The Twin Containers Amo Passicos Prades Le Lez, France 16
Arty Car Crash Amo Passicos Prades Le Lez, France 17
Red Door Andrea Mdos Barcelona, Spain 18
Floored Andrew B. White Auckland, New Zealand 19
White Cloud Andrew B. White Auckland, New Zealand 20
Nude By Window, 2010 Andrew B. White Auckland, New Zealand 21
She Rides Like The Wind Bryce Fauble Erie, Pennsylvania 22
Hitching A Ride Cara Gallardo Weil Hong Kong 23
Line Of Thought carlein van der beek The Hague 24
Stowaways Cindy Patrick Moorestown, New Jersey 25
Windmills Of My Mind Celine Gillou San Francisco 26
Long Downward Pointing Finger Craig Anthony Perkins Los Angeles, California 27
He Just Got Lonely Daniel Berman Milton, Ontario, Canada 28
Second Last Of Autumn Daniel Berman Milton, Ontario, Canada 29
Lost Eden Edina Herold Pécs, Hungary 30
Don t Mind Me, I m Only Here For The Violence Edgar Cuevas Houston, Texas 31
Pandora Elizabeth Grilli Port Orchard, Washington 32
Spatial Immersion Elizabeth Grilli Port Orchard, Washington 33
Distant Storms Emily Rose Duluth, Minnesota 34
Lady Of The Lake Emily Rose Duluth, Minnesota 35
Chiarscuro Guacira Naves Seattle, Washington 36
Tree Irene Oleksuk North Barrington, Illinois 37
YYZL Gordon Fraser Glasgow, Scotland 38
Raphaella In The Window Gordon Fraser Glasgow, Scotland 39
Dad s cows. Thanksgiving 2010 Jeremy Hindbo Alberta, Canada 40
Relic Donna Eck San Jose, California 41
Soaring Sunday Jaime Ferreyros Miami, Florida 42
Madame On The Floor Butow Maler Bremen, Germany 43
Machismo Jaime Ferreyros Miami, Florida 44
Message In A Bottle Jaime Ferreyros Miami, Florida 45
Add It Up Jennifer Bracewell San Francisco Bay Area 46
As The Crow Flies Jennifer Bracewell San Francisco Bay Area 47
Cowboys and Indians; Mums the Word Jon Betts Richmond, Virginia 48
Dog Distracted by Applause for the Flying Wallendas Jon Betts Richmond, Virginia 49
Newsreel Of Imaginative Play Jon Betts Richmond, Virginia 50
Western Mythology Jon Betts Richmond, Virginia 51
Witchita Lineman Jon Betts Richmond, Virginia 52
Mirages Jose Chavarry Monrovia, California 53
Bound To Forget Jose Chavarry Monrovia, California 54
Dreaming of Summer and Chagall Jose Chavarry Monrovia, California 55
Ever More Unknown Kimberly Post Rowe Raymond, Maine 56
Her Winter s Secret Seed Kimberly Post Rowe Raymond, Maine 57
Boy On Stairs Laura Peischl Atard, Malta 58
Depart du train de la gare Saint-Lazare K!ko the Gnou Paris, France 59
Sophia Knox Bronson Oakland, California 60
Tomorrow Mandala For Tomorrow People Knox Bronson Oakland, California 61
If Clouds Count The Raindrops, Who Counts The Clouds? Knox Bronson Oakland, California 62
Car Toon Knox Bronson Oakland, California 63
Little Girl Lost Laura Conomy Cambridge, England 64
Fiat Lux Laura Conomy Cambridge, England 65
Homework Linda Schenck Danville, California 66
The Kite Lindsey Thompson Birmingham, England 67
Finding Our Way Home Maia Panos Orinda, California 68
Sophia By The Sea Maia Panos Orinda, California 69
Tulips In Red Maia Panos Orinda, California 70
Portrait Of A Sheep Maia Panos Orinda, California 71
Pilgrims Of Light: Last Ascent To The Red Cross Nettie Edwards Cheltenham, England 72
Touch Nettie Edwards Cheltenham, England 73
I m No Lichtenstein (homage à Aik Beng Chia) Max Berkowitz Placerville, California 74
Morning Paper Michele Augustine New York City 75
No One Home Marty Yawnick Dallas, Texas 76
Backache Massimiliano Trotta Cagliari, Italy 77
Anticipation Max Berkowitz Placerville, California 78
End Of The Line Paul Moore Tullamore, Ireland 79
Being In A Bubble Robert Herold Pécs, Hungary 80
Organic Engineering Robert Mullen Telford, Pennsylvania 81
Fish Story Roger Guetta Montreal, Canada 82
Flower Looking At Man Roger Guetta Montreal, Canada 83
Alone In A Sea Of Blue Rudy Vogel Springfield, Massachusetts 84
Walking Across Bloukrans Bridge Rudy Vogel Springfield, Massachusetts 85
Bridge To Snowhere unruly-e Montpelier, Vermont 86
Actor s Vanity unruly-e Montpelier, Vermont 87
HerRo s Unique Vision Contrail Across the Steps of the Sky unruly-e Montpelier, Vermont 88
The Emperor Has No Clothes unruly-e Montpelier, Vermont 89
With Trembling Wing Catherine Restivo United States 90
The Internal Struggle George Politis Sydney, Australia 91
The Grey Ship Glenn Homann Brisbane, Queensland, Australia 92
Can I Have It Like That? Jen Pollak Bianco Los Angeles, California 93
Rain On Main Ramona Gillentine Oxford, Mississippi 94
Portrait With Skull Ramona Gillentine Oxford, Mississippi 95
Leader Of The Pack Hans Borghorst Meppen, Germany 96
Strange Things Are Happening In Mrs. Bedford s Bed Karen, Divine Denver, Colorado 97
The Mask Of Thoughtlessness Robert Kato San Carlos, California 98
Theatre Bizarre Nico Brons Amersfoort, The Netherlands 99
Tin Wan Gabrielle Weil Hong Kong 100
Gaudi Spiral Kris Torma Sydney, Australia 101
Chicken Crossing Fish Shirley Drevich Miami, Florida 102
Window Realm Shirley Drevich Miami, Florida 103
Fragmented Jamie Stewart Oakham, England 104
Acknowledgments P1xels would like to thank the following individuals for helping make this show possible: Judges (OCCCA show): Daniel Berman Maia Panos Jeff Alu Special thanks to: Ralph Benko Rudy Vogel Marty Yawnick, LifeInLoFi.com Lauren Bernsen Magcloud unruly-e And we would be remiss if we did not thank the pioneers of this emergent medium in the global iphonic art community, especially those who have contributed their beautiful work to P1xels. Your art has taught us, inspired us, encouraged us. October 2, 2011 105
106 Prepared by MagCloud for Knox Bronson. Get more at knoxbronson.magcloud.com.