The idea of a digital art display certainly is a strange one. Manipulating colors and shapes with a computer to create an artistic statement can seem hands-off and impersonal when compared to the physical acts of painting or sculpting. But a visit to "Daniel Reeves: Above Memory and Transformation," the new exhibit at the Bayly Art Museum, reveals what a rich and provocative medium digital art can be.
Plenty of people have used computer painting programs or manipulated a photograph in PhotoShop - whether to add a mustache to a teacher or to alter a birth date on a student ID - but few have mined the expressive potential of the digital medium. Best known for his work in video installations, Reeves began exploring digital painting in the early '90s, and although this exhibit includes three of his video works, the focus is on his image manipulation.
These are highly personal works, and Reeves displays a willingness to share his experiences with the viewer. He wrote every caption for his paintings and multimedia pieces, which gives the viewer insight into the artist's inspirations and intentions.
Born in 1948, Reeves grew up with his mother, brother and abusive stepfather. He joined the U.S. Marine Corps at age 16 and was sent to Vietnam, where he was wounded severely in 1968. When he had fully recovered, Reeves enrolled in Ithaca College, where he went on to earn a B.S. in cinema studies. He has worked with video and film ever since, more recently incorporating digital painting into his repertoire.
Certain experiences in Reeves' life create running themes in his work. In a caption accompanying one piece, he acknowledges the effect that Kurt Vonnegut's novel "Slaughterhouse-Five" had on his life. With his juxtaposition of children into warlike atmospheres - kids playing with guns, riding tanks - Reeves reveals his feelings of being young and naïve when he entered Vietnam. Many of his paintings present strong anti-war arguments, with visual collages of war images and accompanying essays by Vonnegut and other authors.
Reeves also explores the identity of his stepfather, an abusive and cold man, and his real father, whom he never knew. In "Feb-55," a picture of the artist walking with his brother and stepfather, Reeves digitally alters the image to cave in toward the stepfather, making him appear, as Reeves puts it, as the "gravitational center" of the photo. The artist superimposes a second image of himself onto the photo with an arm outstretched, holding a cross toward the stepfather as a way to "banish" his ghost from the photographic record. The need to purge a particular image from his memory characterizes many of Reeves' works. Photographs and videos present moments in the past that easily are distorted: They can be made to lie or perhaps tell the more complete truth.
In the exhibit's three video installations - titled "Eingang," "Try to Live to See This" (which will be replaced with the work "End to End" in one week) and "Asylum" - the viewer finds other recurring themes. In all three, technological implements such as video and High Definition TV come to record and in turn express organic themes like running rivers, rocks and trees. In "Eingang," the most massive and intricate of the three, seven HD-TVs are recessed into the surface of seven sections of 350-year-old Rocky Mountain Fir. Reeves places pebbles on top of the three stumps, and the screens show bowls of water and rice. This piece makes a statement about the relationship between technology and nature that is open to multiple interpretations.
Although the exhibit presents an avant-garde art form, Reeves reveals a common bond with many artists before him. Like other expressionists, he seeks to explore and cleanse his soul through his art. Through his digital manipulations, he can right past wrongs, rectify lost or forgotten memories and confront past demons - putting all of this into a visual language that can be appreciated by anyone who sees it. "Above Memory and Transformation" is a highly accessible and personal exhibit by a truly remarkable artist.
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