“Each age finds its own technique”.
– Jackson Pollock
ROOT WORDS (source: Oxford Dictionaries):
expressionism: A style of painting, music, or drama in which the artist or writer seeks to express emotional experience rather than impressions of the external world.
technology :The application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry.
INTRODUCING TECHSPRESSIONISM
In 1928, ruminating on the rapid pace and profound nature of change in the twentieth century, the French poet and philosopher Paul Valéry wrote: “We must expect great innovations to transform the entire technique of the arts, thereby affecting artistic invention itself and perhaps even bringing about an amazing change in our very notion of art.” This prediction so impressed the cultural critic Walter Benjamin that he used it as the epigraph of his famous 1935 essay, “The Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility” (as it was originally titled). These writers and others were pondering the same issues that face the artists who now, nearly a century later, self-identify as Techspressionists.
Thanks to digital technologies and the Internet, works of art have become, in Valéry’s formulation, ubiquitous; as he foresaw, “We shall only have to summon them and there they will be.” This level of accessibility requires us to adopt and accept new attitudes toward creative expression. As Benjamin observed, the debate regarding the artistic validity of new media, begun with photography and cinema in the late nineteenth century, centers on the so-called aura of the singular work of art. And the aura of uniqueness remains powerful. Yet a digitally-generated artwork is not a reproduction in the conventional sense—that is, a copy of something else—though it can be, and often is, reproduced in multiples that are indistinguishable one from another.
Hand-made versus mechanical. One-off versus duplication. Such binaries ultimately resolve in light of the works of art themselves. By whatever technique it’s created, Techspressionist imagery generates its own aura, deriving its authenticity from the artist’s intention. Expression is paramount; technology is merely the delivery system. Jackson Pollock faced a similar concern. Frustrated by the focus on his materials and methods rather than the content of his paintings, he insisted, “It doesn’t make much difference how the paint is put on as long as something is being said. Technique is just a means of arriving at a statement.”
Helen A. Harrison
Director, Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center
June 2022
Techspressionism: Digital and Beyond opening reception at Southampton Arts Center, April 23, 2022.
Pictured artists (left to right): Diane Marsella, Carter Hodgkin, Renata Janiszewska (on iPad), Darcy Gerbarg, Mary Boochever, Tommy Mintz, Verneda Lights, Tom Dunn (SAC Executive Director), Nina Sobell, Roy Nicholson, Nina Yankowitz, Roz Dimon, Colin Goldberg, ScoJo, Steve Miller, Patrick Lichty, Tali Hinkis (kneeling), Christine Sciulli (kneeling), John Zieman (back row), Kyle Lapidus, Mary Ann Strandell, Holly Gordon, Michael Rees (back row) Dalton Portella (kneeling), Joe Diamond (SAC General Manager), Dan Welden, Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky, Anne Spalter, Gregory Little. Artworks behind group by Frank Gillette. Photo ©2022 Rob Rich/SocietyAllure.com
UPCOMING SALON
CURATORS IN CONVERSATION
Techspressionism: Curators in Conversation with Christiane Paul and Helen A. Harrison is the first of a series of Roundtable Discussions created by Techspressionist artists. This conversation is a discussion focusing of Techspressionism as it relates to art-historical movements of the past as well as to digital art at large.
Christiane Paul is Professor in the School of Media Studies at The New School, as well as Curator of Digital Art at the Whitney Museum of American Art. She is the recipient of the Thoma Foundation’s 2016 Arts Writing Award in Digital Art, and her books are A Companion to Digital Art (Blackwell-Wiley, May 2016); Digital Art (Thames and Hudson, 2003, 2008, 2015, 2023); Context Providers – Conditions of Meaning in Media Arts (Intellect, 2011; Chinese edition, 2012); and New Media in the White Cube and Beyond (UC Press, 2008). At the Whitney Museum she curated exhibitions including Programmed: Rules, Codes, and Choreographies in Art 1965 – 2018 (2018/19), Cory Arcangel: Pro Tools (2011) and Profiling (2007), and is responsible for artport, the museum’s portal to Internet art.
Helen A. Harrison, a former New York Times art critic and NPR arts commentator, is the director of the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center in East Hampton, New York. A specialist in modern American art, she has been the curator of the Parrrish Art Museum and Guild Hall Museum and a guest curator at the Queens Museum. Her books include Hamptons Bohemia: Two Centuries of Artists and Writers on the Beach, monographs on Jackson Pollock and Larry Rivers, and three mystery novels set in the New York art world.
Bronx-born artist Colin Goldberg’s work explores the relationship between technology and personal expression. His studio practice bridges multiple disciplines, notably painting and digital media. Goldberg first used the term Techspressionism as the title for a solo exhibition in Southampton NY in 2011, and curated the first large-scale group exhibition of Techspressionist works, Techspressionism: Digital and Beyond at Southampton Arts Center (Southampton NY, 2022).
TECHSPRESSIONISM – Digital & Beyond presented innovative work in a broad range of styles, reflecting the expressive potential of electronic media. The exhibition included the works of more than 90 artists working with technology from more than 20 countries around the world including Afghanistan, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Canary Islands, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Italy, Netherlands, Peru, Puerto Rico, Russia, Taiwan, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine and the United States.
TECHSPRESSIONIST ARTWORKS
Curated by Renata Janiszewska
Today’s featured #Techspressionist visual artist:
DJ Monetise
Pemberton, Canada 🇨🇦
.
@dj.monetise
Mixed media artist practicing on the unceded traditional territory of the Lil’wat Nation. Utilizing technologies from traditional media to photography, cellphone apps to VR modeling to respond to and reflect on internal conditions, describe narratives and/or interrogate, experiment and generate via experimental workflows. Exploring grief, complexity, quantum physics, ways of being and connection with place.
#techspressionism
@techspressionismcanada
Today’s featured #Techspressionist visual artist:
DJ Monetise
Pemberton, Canada 🇨🇦
.
@dj.monetise
Mixed media artist practicing on the unceded traditional territory of the Lil’wat Nation. Utilizing technologies from traditional media to photography, cellphone apps to VR modeling to respond to and reflect on internal conditions, describe narratives and/or interrogate, experiment and generate via experimental workflows. Exploring grief, complexity, quantum physics, ways of being and connection with place.
#techspressionism
@techspressionismcanada
Today’s featured #Techspressionist visual artist:
DJ Monetise
Pemberton, Canada 🇨🇦
.
@dj.monetise
Mixed media artist practicing on the unceded traditional territory of the Lil’wat Nation. Utilizing technologies from traditional media to photography, cellphone apps to VR modeling to respond to and reflect on internal conditions, describe narratives and/or interrogate, experiment and generate via experimental workflows. Exploring grief, complexity, quantum physics, ways of being and connection with place.
#techspressionism
@techspressionismcanada
Today’s featured #Techspressionist visual artist:
Asal Bassir
Toronto, Canada 🇨🇦
.
@asal.bassir
Asal Bassir is a Tehran/ Toronto based visual artist and art director who is currently a student at York University, Canada.
#techspressionism
@techspressionism.ir
Today’s featured #Techspressionist visual artist:
Asal Bassir
Toronto, Canada 🇨🇦
.
@asal.bassir
Asal Bassir is a Tehran/ Toronto based visual artist and art director who is currently a student at York University, Canada.
#techspressionism
@techspressionism.ir
Today’s featured #Techspressionist visual artist:
Asal Bassir
Toronto, Canada 🇨🇦
.
@asal.bassir
Asal Bassir is a Tehran/ Toronto based visual artist and art director who is currently a student at York University, Canada.
#techspressionism
@techspressionism.ir
Today’s featured #Techspressionist visual artist:
Diego Navarro
Minas Gerais, Brazil 🇧🇷
.
@belohorizonte
Visual Artist and Product Designer
His aesthetic research focuses on the field of Art-Technology and his production transits through web art, cyberculture, glitch art, generative art and 3DArt.
You can see more of his work on the website diogonavarro.com.br
#techspressionism
@techspressionism_br
Today’s featured #Techspressionist visual artist:
Diego Navarro
Minas Gerais, Brazil 🇧🇷
.
@belohorizonte
Visual Artist and Product Designer
His aesthetic research focuses on the field of Art-Technology and his production transits through web art, cyberculture, glitch art, generative art and 3DArt.
You can see more of his work on the website diogonavarro.com.br
#techspressionism
@techspressionism_br
Today’s featured #Techspressionist visual artist:
Diego Navarro
Minas Gerais, Brazil 🇧🇷
.
@belohorizonte
Visual Artist and Product Designer
His aesthetic research focuses on the field of Art-Technology and his production transits through web art, cyberculture, glitch art, generative art and 3DArt.
You can see more of his work on the website diogonavarro.com.br
#techspressionism
@techspressionism_br
Today’s featured #Techspressionist visual artist:
Rafael Draga
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 🇧🇷
.
@rafaeldraga
Rafael Draga is a graffiti artist, visual artist and graduated as a fashion designer. Working as a graffiti artist and visual artist since 2012, Draga held six individual exhibitions (one of them in Mar del Plata/AR), was approved for two art calls and participated in three group exhibitions (one of them in the US with the TMFA, international art collective). He is currently one of the co-creators of BeCo Pro, where he works as an illustrator, visual
artist, develops audiovisual projects and a PFP NFT project on the DeSo blockchain. Rafael is also part of the Gambiarra NEAR Gallery.
#techspressionism
@techspressionism_br
Today’s featured #Techspressionist visual artist:
Rafael Draga
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 🇧🇷
.
@rafaeldraga
Rafael Draga is a graffiti artist, visual artist and graduated as a fashion designer. Working as a graffiti artist and visual artist since 2012, Draga held six individual exhibitions (one of them in Mar del Plata/AR), was approved for two art calls and participated in three group exhibitions (one of them in the US with the TMFA, international art collective). He is currently one of the co-creators of BeCo Pro, where he works as an illustrator, visual
artist, develops audiovisual projects and a PFP NFT project on the DeSo blockchain. Rafael is also part of the Gambiarra NEAR Gallery.
#techspressionism
@techspressionism_br
Today’s featured #Techspressionist visual artist:
Rafael Draga
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 🇧🇷
.
@rafaeldraga
Rafael Draga is a graffiti artist, visual artist and graduated as a fashion designer. Working as a graffiti artist and visual artist since 2012, Draga held six individual exhibitions (one of them in Mar del Plata/AR), was approved for two art calls and participated in three group exhibitions (one of them in the US with the TMFA, international art collective). He is currently one of the co-creators of BeCo Pro, where he works as an illustrator, visual
artist, develops audiovisual projects and a PFP NFT project on the DeSo blockchain. Rafael is also part of the Gambiarra NEAR Gallery.
#techspressionism
@techspressionism_br
Today’s featured #Techspressionist visual artist:
Max Dali Kamilla Kumova
London, England 🇬🇧
.
@maxdali_kamillakulova
I'm an Italian non-binary multidisciplinary artist, a representative of Techspressionism world art movement, and an activist for LGBTQIA+ rights. I spent the last 15 years in Brazil: 5 of them inside a favela, now I'm back in London where I was a prior resident. My artistic double name, both masculine/feminine, was chosen to highlight the need for tolerance and inclusion still needed in our society. I express myself by digital drawing and painting, photograpy, AI, Glitch Art, video and sound editing, collages etc. etc.
#techspressionism
@techspressionism_br
Today’s featured #Techspressionist visual artist:
Max Dali Kamilla Kumova
London, England 🇬🇧
.
@maxdali_kamillakulova
I'm an Italian non-binary multidisciplinary artist, a representative of Techspressionism world art movement, and an activist for LGBTQIA+ rights. I spent the last 15 years in Brazil: 5 of them inside a favela, now I'm back in London where I was a prior resident. My artistic double name, both masculine/feminine, was chosen to highlight the need for tolerance and inclusion still needed in our society. I express myself by digital drawing and painting, photograpy, AI, Glitch Art, video and sound editing, collages etc. etc.
#techspressionism
@techspressionism_br
Today’s featured #Techspressionist visual artist:
Max Dali Kamilla Kumova
London, England 🇬🇧
.
@maxdali_kamillakulova
I'm an Italian non-binary multidisciplinary artist, a representative of Techspressionism world art movement, and an activist for LGBTQIA+ rights. I spent the last 15 years in Brazil: 5 of them inside a favela, now I'm back in London where I was a prior resident. My artistic double name, both masculine/feminine, was chosen to highlight the need for tolerance and inclusion still needed in our society. I express myself by digital drawing and painting, photograpy, AI, Glitch Art, video and sound editing, collages etc. etc.
#techspressionism
@techspressionism_br
Today’s featured #Techspressionist visual artist:
Tomaz Favilla
São Paolo, Brazil 🇧🇷
London, England 🇬🇧
.
@tomaz.favilla
I'm a Brazilian artist, raised in London and Brighton, now residing in São Paulo.
I take photographs and edit them digitally to create my work.
The end result at times, has no resemblance to the original photograph, and can end up being an abstract image. Most times, they have an element of glitch and can be somewhat lysergic.
Urban landscapes and cityscapes are also a common theme.
Furthermore, I try to emulate the feeling of hand-painted images, but all done digitally.
This works particularly well on canvas prints.
This is my life, my savior, my tormentor. Life without this would seem empty, devoid of my truth and how I see the world and experience this reality.
It is an expression of fine art through digital means.
It is the outside world being transformed by my inner world, then poured back in the form of these images.
I hope you enjoy them.
I hope they give you pleasure and sometimes hope.
For without hope and beauty, we would be surely lost.
#techspressionism
@techspressionism_br
Today’s featured #Techspressionist visual artist:
Tomaz Favilla
São Paolo, Brazil 🇧🇷
London, England 🇬🇧
.
@tomaz.favilla
I'm a Brazilian artist, raised in London and Brighton, now residing in São Paulo.
I take photographs and edit them digitally to create my work.
The end result at times, has no resemblance to the original photograph, and can end up being an abstract image. Most times, they have an element of glitch and can be somewhat lysergic.
Urban landscapes and cityscapes are also a common theme.
Furthermore, I try to emulate the feeling of hand-painted images, but all done digitally.
This works particularly well on canvas prints.
This is my life, my savior, my tormentor. Life without this would seem empty, devoid of my truth and how I see the world and experience this reality.
It is an expression of fine art through digital means.
It is the outside world being transformed by my inner world, then poured back in the form of these images.
I hope you enjoy them.
I hope they give you pleasure and sometimes hope.
For without hope and beauty, we would be surely lost.
#techspressionism
@techspressionism_br
Today’s featured #Techspressionist visual artist:
Tomaz Favilla
São Paolo, Brazil 🇧🇷
London, England 🇬🇧
.
@tomaz.favilla
I'm a Brazilian artist, raised in London and Brighton, now residing in São Paulo.
I take photographs and edit them digitally to create my work.
The end result at times, has no resemblance to the original photograph, and can end up being an abstract image. Most times, they have an element of glitch and can be somewhat lysergic.
Urban landscapes and cityscapes are also a common theme.
Furthermore, I try to emulate the feeling of hand-painted images, but all done digitally.
This works particularly well on canvas prints.
This is my life, my savior, my tormentor. Life without this would seem empty, devoid of my truth and how I see the world and experience this reality.
It is an expression of fine art through digital means.
It is the outside world being transformed by my inner world, then poured back in the form of these images.
I hope you enjoy them.
I hope they give you pleasure and sometimes hope.
For without hope and beauty, we would be surely lost.
#techspressionism
@techspressionism_br
Today’s featured #Techspressionist visual artist:
Nima Nilian
Leuven, Belgium 🇧🇪
.
@nimanilian
In my work I make intensive use of the latest digital media, HD computer generated images and digital editing. I have been fascinated by digital techniques for some time, and I make 3D animations and sculptures primarily. When creating 3D computer generated images you have complete control. I like that. People are always central to my work. Through a virtual world I try to ask existential questions about feelings such as loneliness, pain and death, but also joy and humor. About how feelings are experienced within the abstraction of the digital world. Also about the impact that the 'hyper real', virtual world has on the tangible reality of the viewer. This 'new' reality generates just as much, or sometimes even better, emotions, feelings, questions, ideas... that's the beauty of art. For me, the computer is the obvious tool to challenge existing ideas and current issues.
#techspressionism
Today’s featured #Techspressionist visual artist:
Nima Nilian
Leuven, Belgium 🇧🇪
.
@nimanilian
In my work I make intensive use of the latest digital media, HD computer generated images and digital editing. I have been fascinated by digital techniques for some time, and I make 3D animations and sculptures primarily. When creating 3D computer generated images you have complete control. I like that. People are always central to my work. Through a virtual world I try to ask existential questions about feelings such as loneliness, pain and death, but also joy and humor. About how feelings are experienced within the abstraction of the digital world. Also about the impact that the 'hyper real', virtual world has on the tangible reality of the viewer. This 'new' reality generates just as much, or sometimes even better, emotions, feelings, questions, ideas... that's the beauty of art. For me, the computer is the obvious tool to challenge existing ideas and current issues.
#techspressionism
Today’s featured #Techspressionist visual artist:
Nima Nilian
Leuven, Belgium 🇧🇪
.
@nimanilian
In my work I make intensive use of the latest digital media, HD computer generated images and digital editing. I have been fascinated by digital techniques for some time, and I make 3D animations and sculptures primarily. When creating 3D computer generated images you have complete control. I like that. People are always central to my work. Through a virtual world I try to ask existential questions about feelings such as loneliness, pain and death, but also joy and humor. About how feelings are experienced within the abstraction of the digital world. Also about the impact that the 'hyper real', virtual world has on the tangible reality of the viewer. This 'new' reality generates just as much, or sometimes even better, emotions, feelings, questions, ideas... that's the beauty of art. For me, the computer is the obvious tool to challenge existing ideas and current issues.
#techspressionism
Today’s featured #Techspressionist visual artist:
Andy Wauman
Belgium 🇧🇪
.
@andywauman
Generally my work has it’s origins in my conviction that a truly living culture can only arise from social structures and that the only theory a contemporary artist can feed on is necessarily a social one. I do not recycle existing forms, I try to make new ones based on my own background. Which is what distinguishes an artist from a marketeer. I try to inject the spontaneous energy from the street into my artistic practice, and I create my own contribution to the ‘revolution of everyday life’ in the shape of texts and objects. Therefore, a recurrent element in my work is my protesting against cynicism and a preference for the sensuality and romantic value of the materials of the street, the ones the vagabond knows better than the bourgeois. But rather than a political activist, I like to call myself a poetical terrorist.
#techspressionism
Today’s featured #Techspressionist visual artist:
Andy Wauman
Belgium 🇧🇪
.
@andywauman
Generally my work has it’s origins in my conviction that a truly living culture can only arise from social structures and that the only theory a contemporary artist can feed on is necessarily a social one. I do not recycle existing forms, I try to make new ones based on my own background. Which is what distinguishes an artist from a marketeer. I try to inject the spontaneous energy from the street into my artistic practice, and I create my own contribution to the ‘revolution of everyday life’ in the shape of texts and objects. Therefore, a recurrent element in my work is my protesting against cynicism and a preference for the sensuality and romantic value of the materials of the street, the ones the vagabond knows better than the bourgeois. But rather than a political activist, I like to call myself a poetical terrorist.
#techspressionism
Today’s featured #Techspressionist visual artist:
Andy Wauman
Belgium 🇧🇪
.
@andywauman
Generally my work has it’s origins in my conviction that a truly living culture can only arise from social structures and that the only theory a contemporary artist can feed on is necessarily a social one. I do not recycle existing forms, I try to make new ones based on my own background. Which is what distinguishes an artist from a marketeer. I try to inject the spontaneous energy from the street into my artistic practice, and I create my own contribution to the ‘revolution of everyday life’ in the shape of texts and objects. Therefore, a recurrent element in my work is my protesting against cynicism and a preference for the sensuality and romantic value of the materials of the street, the ones the vagabond knows better than the bourgeois. But rather than a political activist, I like to call myself a poetical terrorist.
#techspressionism
Today’s featured #Techspressionist visual artist:
Mario de Mayer
.
Ghent, Belgium 🇧🇪
.
@mariodemeyer_abstract
I'm Mario De Meyer, a freelance graphic designer based in Ghent/Belgium with a strong focus on typography. I work on a wide variety of worldwide projects and had the pleasure to work with clients like Adobe, Bloomberg, Fortune, Inc., Ogilvy & Mather, IBM, Wired, Henkel and more.
#techspressionism
Today’s featured #Techspressionist visual artist:
Mario de Mayer
.
Ghent, Belgium 🇧🇪
.
@mariodemeyer_abstract
I'm Mario De Meyer, a freelance graphic designer based in Ghent/Belgium with a strong focus on typography. I work on a wide variety of worldwide projects and had the pleasure to work with clients like Adobe, Bloomberg, Fortune, Inc., Ogilvy & Mather, IBM, Wired, Henkel and more.
#techspressionism
Today’s featured #Techspressionist visual artist:
Mario de Mayer
.
Ghent, Belgium 🇧🇪
.
@mariodemeyer_abstract
I'm Mario De Meyer, a freelance graphic designer based in Ghent/Belgium with a strong focus on typography. I work on a wide variety of worldwide projects and had the pleasure to work with clients like Adobe, Bloomberg, Fortune, Inc., Ogilvy & Mather, IBM, Wired, Henkel and more.
#techspressionism
Today’s featured #Techspressionist visual artist:
Andy Thomas
.
Australia 🇦🇺
.
@andythomasartist
Over the last two decades Andy Thomas has developed an iconic visual language that is uniquely his own. Using a combination of digital technology and water colours, Thomas’ work is a symbolic representation of nature’s collision with technology. Inspired by the beauty of nature and extensive travel to some of the world’s most ancient rainforests, Thomas fuses together images of flora and fauna into evolved abstract forms. Intricately layered compositions of plants and animals make a strong statement of technology’s impact on planet earth and how advancements in society are affecting the natural systems of life.
#techspressionism
Today’s featured #Techspressionist visual artist:
Andy Thomas
.
Australia 🇦🇺
.
@andythomasartist
Over the last two decades Andy Thomas has developed an iconic visual language that is uniquely his own. Using a combination of digital technology and water colours, Thomas’ work is a symbolic representation of nature’s collision with technology. Inspired by the beauty of nature and extensive travel to some of the world’s most ancient rainforests, Thomas fuses together images of flora and fauna into evolved abstract forms. Intricately layered compositions of plants and animals make a strong statement of technology’s impact on planet earth and how advancements in society are affecting the natural systems of life.
#techspressionism
Today’s featured #Techspressionist visual artist:
Andy Thomas
.
Australia 🇦🇺
.
@andythomasartist
Over the last two decades Andy Thomas has developed an iconic visual language that is uniquely his own. Using a combination of digital technology and water colours, Thomas’ work is a symbolic representation of nature’s collision with technology. Inspired by the beauty of nature and extensive travel to some of the world’s most ancient rainforests, Thomas fuses together images of flora and fauna into evolved abstract forms. Intricately layered compositions of plants and animals make a strong statement of technology’s impact on planet earth and how advancements in society are affecting the natural systems of life.
#techspressionism
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