From digitally manipulated photographs to works that began as digital images, or were produced via computer programs, technology is at the root of the processes of many contemporary artists. Grids and the pixels that comprise them are the visible signs of this relationship between art and technology. While pixels are an acknowledgment of the formative role of technology in the artists' process, these elements carry with them a challenge to traditional notions of artistic skill. This challenge is met by some artists with an emphasis on the hand-made aspects of the work or the literal presence of the artist, while others put the technological origins of their work on display without apology.

Stemming from Roy Lichtenstein who used references to graphic art and the methods of mass production to lampoon artists from Monet to the abstract expressionists, his work challenges the romantic notion that art's value lay in the heroic marks of the artist-genius. Today, however, with the commonplace use of digital technology comes a manifest tension between deeply entrenched romantic ideals and computer-enabled methods.

Whether working with landscape or architectural spaces, Seton Smith's photographs have a dreamy, painterly quality that is achieved through her manipulation of the digital image. On the other hand, Jonathan Lewis' photographs are derived from decidedly unromantic subject matter (candy wrappers) and given a fittingly cool, precise and abstract life in his photographs.

Elaine Reichek explores the unexpected connections between the presumably male dominated history of technology and embroidery. This craftiest of art forms intersects with technology and mass production beyond its pixelated appearance. Reichek's embroideries are produced either by machines, with the help of computer programs, or completely by hand, with discernible difference between the final products. This show will feature her digitally embroidered recreations of Hirst, Peyton, Thiebaud, and Warhol paintings.

Sharon Core also works with the idea of recreating by painstakingly reproducing the scenes from paintings by Wayne Thiebaud (with more recent work after 19th century American still-life painter Raphaell Peale), and photographing them. The fact that this process of recreating begins not with the original painted image, but color reproductions, makes the process even more intriguing.

Through her lenticular self-portraits and digital photography, Margeaux Walter revels in her own anxiety about the potential blurring of individuality in the face of modern technology. She sees human skills being replaced by technological innovations, but is drawn to them just the same.

John Gerrard speaks about the technology he uses, in part derived from 3D gaming, as driving his work--without it, his work would not be possible. At the same time, he and his team are driving that technology, pushing it forward in order to further his project. Ideally, all of this technology enables a more pure form of engagement between the work and the viewer by seeming to disappear. This romantic notion of the viewer entering the work and connecting emotionally can be seen in his Oil Fields, where a solitary pump jack holds the focus of the viewer with a quiet grandeur.

Compare this with William Betts who, like Gerrard, works with proprietary technology, and is interested in the ways in which technology can enhance seeing. He asserts that the roots of his images are in digital photography, industrial technology processes and, surprisingly, classical painting. His painted works on canvas, however, are based upon dispassionate images from surveillance videos and traffic cameras, and retain their grainy, pixelated qualities.

For further information, please contact Amanda Snyder at 212-255-2718.