Salon 71 // Growth

Hello, everyone. My name is Colin Goldberg, and welcome to Techspressionist Salon Number 71. Today is Wednesday, June 7th, and I'm zooming in from North Bennington, Vermont. 71 is a personal favorite number of mine since it's the year of my birth, so pretty happy about it being number 71. So yeah, today's topic is growth, and anyone that is interested in sharing their work, I would recommend that you use the reactions button on the bottom of the Zoom window, and then you can hit raise hand to raise your hand, and then I would basically ask any artists that want to share on the topic to share in the order that the hands are raised. It could also be just an open... I would encourage all you guys to share something. And just make up how it refers to growth or relates to growth. It doesn't really matter.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

I mean, my main thing is that artists show work, you know what I mean? This is the core of what this is all about. So even if it doesn't relate to growth, it doesn't matter. Just show what you're up to. So the first thing that I wanted to bring up is something that I discussed with the people in this Zoom or in this room prior to starting the recording, and that is the general growth of this project slash artist group slash movement, whatever you choose to call it.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

I'm starting to lean towards just calling it a movement at this point, because if we don't do that, nobody else will. There's a couple people in here who are cool with it. I've decided, F it. It's just like on the Techspressionism homepage, and I'm going to put this back on there. You're a Techspressionist when you say you are. And a bunch of people said, hey, you know, that was a really good thing. Like, you should put that back in there. And, you know, I think I'm going to, because part of the whole thing that differentiates this group slash project slash movement from others, specifically other movements, is that it's based on self-identification, not a critic, such as, you know, the abstract expressionists were basically named by Clement Greenberg, who had a lot of experience with the movement.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

And I think that's a really good thing. He happened to be a, you know, shareholder in abstract expressionist work, so to speak. He was a collector, you know, so that was in his best interest to help potentially the movement around the work and also his friends with the artists, you know, Pollock and his whole crew, Franz Kline and that whole cast of characters, characters, de Kooning and so forth. So, but Techspressionism is different. It's more, I would say, closely related historically to things like Fluxus, where a bunch of artists got together and made up a name for themselves. And it was based on the artists identifying themselves as members of this group.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

And, you know, I mean, it was called the movement in Wired, you know, back in 2014. There's a link right on the homepage to the Wired article. So I figure Wired is calling it a movement, we might as well do the same. There were, you know, it reminds me of, I did a little bit of work with the painter David Sally, probably 10, 15 years ago. I helped him create some work, or actually I helped him take some of his paint. And scan them in and produce them very large for banners that hung outside Lincoln Center. And you know, I got to talk to him and visit his studio which was out in the East Hampton area. And one thing he told me was that, well I brought in some work to show him. And you know, very graciously he agreed to look at the work. And I would say he's probably regarded as a neo-expressionist himself in some ways, I think.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

I'm not 100% sure about that, but that was largely a movement or a label created by commercial galleries, I think, to kind of group a bunch of artists together that didn't necessarily have a whole lot in common other than that name. I think Anselm Kiefer is another person that was, you know, known to be a neo-expressionist.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

So one thing that he said when I showed him my work, and I was very happy about this, was he said, you know, you might be on the cusp of developing a new visual language. And I thought, wow, you know, David Salle is telling me this. This is pretty cool, you know. And Techspressionism hadn't really, you know, grown into a group at that point. You know, it was still something that I used to call my own work, to describe my own work, which I never felt comfortable as calling digital art, because a lot of it is essentially work on paper, paintings with oils and acrylic and other stuff. So there's a digital component, but I don't consider it digital art. I consider it painting, work on paper, digital printmaking. And there are digital art works, which are like the NFTs, I would say, are digital because they're screen-based works and things like that.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

So, yeah. You know, and the other thing he said was, and I asked him, hey, you know, what do you recommend as far as how you get to where you are, you know, museum collections showing all over the place, you know. And he said, and I'm sure he's represented by one of the blue chip galleries, and he said, you know, basically, you have to think that your work is the shit, because if you don't, nobody else will. And, you know, at the time, I thought, well, you know, I don't really know if I can be that. I don't know if I can be that confident about my own work. But, you know, I feel like in a way, I mean, it's pretty much the truth. You know, I don't think that requires someone to be arrogant about it. I think it just requires an artist to believe in their own work and feel that it's important, you know, because without that, it's going to be very hard to convince anyone else to think it's important.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

So I think with Techspressionism, you know, I want any artists involved in this project slash movement. So I think with Techspressionism, you know, I want any artists involved in this project slash movement. So I think with Techspressionism, you know, I want any artists involved in this project slash movement. And I think that's a really good way to let me know that she got a direct message over the Instagram account that a postgraduate student, I believe in Greece, is interested in doing her dissertation on Techspressionism.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

So that's pretty interesting. And so, you know, I think I'm definitely going to put it back on the homepage or a Techspressionist that when you say you are, and I think, you know, we can start thinking about saying, you know, to ourselves, you're a movement. If you say you are, you know, and if we don't call it that, it's probably not going to stick very long.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

She might be listening to the recording, probably not. But Christiane Paul, who graciously agreed to be in a conversation with myself and Helen Harrison, sort of off the record said, well, it's definitely not a movement, which, you know, hey, that fuels my fire, basically. But Christiane Paul, who graciously agreed to be in a conversation with myself and Helen Harrison, sort of off the record said, well, it's definitely not a movement, which, you know, hey, that fuels my fire, basically. You know, and she's a big proponent of the term digital art. And in her view, that would encompass things like my work, anything that incorporates digital art, even paintings or prints or anything could be considered digital art. I disagree, personally.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

Like, I think that Warhol called his work paintings, even though they were primarily large format prints, screen prints, you know, on canvas with underpainting. And you know what? They're not referred to as prints in any art history book anywhere. They're Warhol paintings. And the only reason they're considered paintings is because he called them paintings consistently. You know what I mean? So there goes a lot to be said for that. The artists, you know, defining their own work as they choose and sticking with it, you know. And each one of the artists in this room has come up with interesting terms to describe their own work. I'm looking at Tommy right now, you know. You know. With the way that you describe your work. And I'm pretty sure that's something you came up with. You know. And so.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

And Roz as well. And a lot of the people here. So, you know. And those, you know, are important things to keep alive. But, you know, from now on, I'm just going to call it a movement and F it. You know. Whatever. You know. And so there's a couple things. One is the time of this meeting. It's good for people on the East Coast. But it's not necessarily good for people overseas in Europe.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

Moritz just let me know that, you know, it's 11 o'clock in Germany. So it's a little bit of an ask to get people in Europe to jump in. And I feel like, you know, we did have our meetings in the mid-afternoon time period at one point. And I think that would also allow, I think, people in the Middle East to Zoom in. I'm not 100% sure what time it is over there.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

I don't know if anyone has, like, a world clock handy. But I know we have a bunch of people from Tehran, you know, all over the Middle East. Specifically Iranian artists. That's the node that's been the most active as far as the various nodes. Does anyone know what time it is? Or can you share what time it is over there?

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

Anyone? I think it's seven or eight hours ahead. This is David. Oh, okay. So let's see. Let me just. I'm looking at the world clock. And right now in Tehran, it's 1.15 a.m. Gotcha. So there. Yeah, ahead. So if it was dialed back to, say, noon, it would be, like, 7 p.m. There. And I guess time in. So in Germany, it's 11 something. And so if it was, like, noon. I'm just thinking, like, you know, if it's around lunchtime. Or sometime that works for the people here now. And it could also accommodate people overseas.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

Probably not so much in Australia. But, you know, we're doing what we can. We don't really have very many artists in Australia at this point. So what do you guys think? I'm going to open up the floor just for this part of the conversation first. And I have a couple other things as far as the topic of growth to just share and put out there with you guys. Is there any specific time that anyone would like to propose?

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

Well, actually, I think that noon might work even for people in Australia. Because midnight is not the end of the world if people are 12 hours ahead compared to 4 in the morning. But we also had talked about. Sorry. I thought I was on do not disturb. We had talked about maybe rotating it every few months. So I think that might be a good idea. Pull in some people. Rotate it. Do it at one time for six months. And then another time then examine it. And just keep shifting if we have to.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

So. And by the way, I have my hand raised for another reason later. Okay. Okay. Absolutely. This time works best for me because of my work schedule. But I don't want to be selfish either. So I like the rotating idea, too. If I'm not doing it. If other people want to do that. It's just tough for me to get away during the workday sometimes. So.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

I think lunch is a good time. Noon to 1. Because even if people are working, they might, you know, be able to Zoom on their phone. So that's one aspect. I think Cynthia's point about rotation is a good one. I think the rotation being a six-month rotation would be better than alternating every month or every couple of months. Because then people begin to forget. Which time is it this time? And even though you send out those wonderful notices to us, Colin, you know, people aren't always looking at the time stamp on that. So I think, you know, if you're going to rotate, I think a six-month rotation makes sense. And then people get in the groove of a particular time. Because we don't want to lose people because they don't know what time we're meeting. And even though they could look at their e-mail, they may not.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

So. Anyway, that's my two cents. Anyone else? Hi, it's Roz. Hello to everybody. Haven't been here in a while. It's been a lot going on. But I know you have a lot, too. I kind of like the idea of going to a lunch, 12 noon idea. And I know not everybody can do it. But I agree with Cynthia that, you know, you do it for three, four, six months, whatever. And, you know, with this many people, there's sometimes a lot more time. And it's not going to satisfy everyone. But I agree it might be nice to have a rotation. And I wondered if any of you have talked about having it once a month rather than every two weeks? You know, so you get a little hungry for, I don't know, maybe every two weeks is more important to other people. And I really value this group very much. And I just haven't been able to be here.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

But I was wondering about that. I mean, has that been brought up at all? Because I still think it would be a very important meeting even if it's once a month. We all have so much information coming into us. Or I'm speaking for myself. That I'm being more and more selective. And I'm a little bit older now. And I just only have so much time, you know, and working on my work and everything. So opening that up to the floor.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

Anyone else have any thoughts on that? Moving to a once a month schedule? Yeah, I agree. I was actually thinking maybe once every three weeks instead of every other week. It does seem like it comes up very quickly and frequently. I'm in California. So for me, this is like 2.30 in the afternoon. It's right in the middle of my work day. But, yeah, I'm going to agree with Roz. Every three weeks, every four weeks. That's just my opinion. I actually like that idea, too. I mean, part of it is selfish. That it's less work for me. Also, this time really doesn't work for me anymore. There's been a change in my life circumstances. Usually I have my daughter. And it becomes tough. I know that I don't want her to be playing Xbox during the time we have together. Or only playing Xbox.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

So, you know, that's part of it, too. But I think, you know, moving to a once a month schedule might make more people show up. Or might help get more people to show up. And I also do like the idea of moving it to midday to, you know, see if we can get more people. Because, you know, that was something that was brought up to me that a couple artists said is, hey, you know, our numbers have been kind of diminishing in the salons. And what can we do about it? So, I think trying out, you know, maybe once a month. And I think once a month might be easier than every three weeks. Because we could set it to be like the first Wednesday of every month. Or the last Wednesday of every month. Or something like that. Like today is the seventh. So, we could say, you know, if we were to jump to that, maybe it would be, you know, the first Wednesday of every month is easy to remember.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

Right. And then, you know, like let's just see. Hopefully it's not July 4th. No, it's July 5th. Okay. So, yeah. I mean, I think that could work. And what do you guys think about shifting to once a month at noon? Does anyone want to second that motion? Well, I brought it up. But, of course, my gallery, Carter Burton, that's exactly what they do is every first Wednesday.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

What are we doing? Are we doing it on Wednesday? I mean, I can't be the only person. I mean, I know I haven't even been here in a while. Well, it doesn't have to be the first Wednesday. I mean, it could be the last Wednesday. You know? Or it could be the second Wednesday. But I kind of feel like either the first or the last is just something that's easier to remember for everyone. Does it have to be a Wednesday? Is everybody on? Because we could just. No. It actually could be. Like a Tuesday? What would work for me. In terms of scheduling.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

I could probably. No. I actually have a commitment on. Well, if it's on noon, then I could do Tuesdays. Yeah. That could work. I could definitely do that, too. First Tuesday of every month at noon. Everybody good? Try it. All right. So I'd like to make a motion. Let me just make a note of this. Well, we'll see if the motion passes. But I'd like to make a motion that we change our meeting to.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

The first Tuesday of every month at noon. Do I have a second? Second. All those in favor? Aye. Yes. Any opposed? What was that? Keep in mind the first Tuesday of next Wednesday. So July the 4th is then. Oh, okay. Gotcha. Oh, dear. Right. Well. Well, we could do the first Monday of every month. That would be basically the first Tuesday of next Wednesday. Oh, okay. Okay. Monday is not your most popular work day. But that might be difficult. You know?

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

Monday. That will meet a lot of. Mondays are bad. Second Wednesday of every month. Thursday. How about yeah. First Thursday. First Thursday. Okay. That could work. Fourth of July weekend. But that's okay. Yeah. I think that. What's fourth July mean? It's a. It's an American holiday independence day. Yeah. You know, it's a movie. I saw the movie. Something, you know, probably isn't celebrated in Canada. It's hard to celebrate these days. You said, what does the 4th of July mean? Oh, well, in Canada, in Quebec, July the 1st is Canada Day. But in Quebec, July the 1st is moving day. Right. Right. So everybody moves apartments and nobody bothers celebrating or wearing red and white. It's not moving day.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

So I think we're I think we're good for the first Thursday. Is anyone opposed? Anyone? All right. Motion passes. Bang the gavel. Roberts rules. It's one of the few practical things. I learned from being in a fraternity. Sorry. What did you guys agree to? I got a phone call. We're going with the first Thursday of every month at noon. OK, thank you. OK, so. So our next meeting is July.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

What is that? July. That would be July 6th. 6th. OK. Right. July 6th. OK. I mean, it's nice to get hungry for something, you know, and even though a tech special, it's great. So I have a thing, but I think it's good to I think a month. It's not like it would it wouldn't go way out of my mind in a way. I kind of go, oh, it's once a month. I would prefer it. Yeah. I mean, I'm moving forward. Honestly, I really don't think I can do evenings at all. Like it's just going to be, you know, I just stuff has changed in my life. I'm happy to if someone wants to take the baton. It's really cool to see how many people are taking the baton and seeing how many people are running these things. You know, in the evenings. I mean, I'd like to be able to attend, but I really it's going to be difficult for me scheduling wise moving forward.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

Just looking at what I have going on. So those that know no, I'm not going to mention it here in a public forum. But yeah, we could try it and see how it goes. It's quite possible that we can get you know, some international people in. And I wanted to ask you, Moritz, not to put you on the spot, but would you potentially take a lead role in trying to get European artists, you know, on board and to attend? I mean, I know that you're involved with the German node, but, you know, I feel like that's something that would really help in terms of growth is getting the word out to artists, you know, in Europe. And as of this point, there is a French node, there is a German node, and then we have Brazil, Iran, Canada.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

Can anyone that's not speaking just mute yourselves, please? That's correct. All right. Thank you. So. Yeah. We'll go with the first Thursday at noon. I don't know, Moritz, what do you think about that? Are you willing to take that on potentially? I think for us, European artists, that's pretty great. It's like, I mean, right now it's midnight here in Germany, for instance, which is no problem. But depending on your.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

Sometimes it's getting very. David, can you mute yourself, please? Thank you. Sometimes it's just not possible. When you have a rough working day and then you can attend every meeting to make it until then, because it will go on to 1.30 approximately. And sometimes it's just not possible for me to attend. So I think it's really cool for us on the other side of the pond. So thanks. Would you be interested in reaching out to some of the other? Would you be interested in reaching? Out to some of the other artists in the European nodes, like, you know, the other artists in the German node, maybe artists in the French. More than happy to do that. That's awesome. I will. Yeah. So also try on my Instagram account.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

Maybe have some calls or. Yeah, just reaching out to the other nodes. Like, of course, I think it's. I think it's. Would be very nice to grow a bit. And I think it's very nice to have some people that are here in Europe. So I completely agree. And I think that'll be that'll be good. And Brazil is fairly close.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

Six fifty nine. So it's an hour ahead of the Eastern time. And there Tomas I know is kind of taking a lead role in the Brazil Brazilian node. And also I've been in touch with sustain over in the French node. If you guys aren't following him. You need to follow him. He's doing some ridiculous animation work with AI.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

He's a French artist. And he's in the he's in the artist index. But it's S.Y.S. T.A.I. M.E. And. Colin, this is this is David. So, first of all, I wasn't really paying attention. So is it possible to do this on Wednesday? And. Instead of Thursday, is that a problem? The second thing is if we do it at noon and you want to get people in Asia like Japan or China, it's like 13, 14 hours ahead. So it'd be three or four in the morning there. So that's going to be tough for those people. You're going to get that. It's going to be easier for the people in Europe. It's going to be hard for people in Asia if you want to get them to attend. So I'm not exactly sure what the answer would be. Other than just do it, do the rotation thing.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

Right. Well, you know, we definitely have at this point far more artists in the index in Europe and active people in Europe versus Asia. And we did have a conversation already. You might have been on your other call about Wednesdays really not being a good day for some of the people. So I think we're going to keep it as it is. OK. First Thursday at noon, the first meeting of which will be July 6th.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

And, you know, I'd like to encourage you guys to also step up as moderators. We've had, you know, some rotating moderation from a couple of people. Lee, you know, did a great job moderating. And I know Tommy and Renata and Michael, you know, have been all stepping in to like moderate. And I feel like and Renata suggested this, that if the artist comes up with a topic, which we usually do in the sort of. After party slash advisory board meeting and anyone that wants to be on the advisory board, just hang out after the Zoom ends and chill out at the after party. And then you're officially in the advisory board at that point. So that's the way it works here.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

And yeah. So she suggested that if an artist comes up with a topic, they're basically volunteering to be the moderator. Right. And then they can vote for that topic. And I think that's a pretty good suggestion, honestly, because, you know, if you feel strongly about a topic, hey, you're the mod. That's it. I think that's a pretty good idea. Or actually, you know what? I can't make any unilateral decisions. So I'm going to make that another motion to put out on the floor. I make a motion that whoever suggests a topic that ends up getting voted in as the topic for the next salon will also be volunteering to be the moderator of said salon. Do I have a second for that motion?

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

Second. All right. All those in favor. I think it should be optional. Maybe somebody doesn't has a suggestion, but they don't aren't a mod or that's not their they're not that's not their comfort zone. And so that's a good point. OK. Can I make an amendment to it, then? Which is they either become the moderator or reach out and find somebody to be the moderator or co-moderate.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

And if it's possible that they're too shy to do that or don't feel comfortable, but then they can just make the suggestion and if and say, but I don't want to do it, you know, and if they say, I don't want to do it, that's fine. But I think in general it should be. They find a co-moderator or someone else to do it as an amendment. I think that's a good suggestion or, you know, essentially having people that just are cool with moderating and are pretty much regulars here. You know, I know that Michael's jumped in a bunch of times. I don't know if Lee would like to be in part of this sort of rotating thing of mods. I know Renaud has done it a bunch of times. That could just be another way to do it is we have a pool of moderators. People who are willing to moderate. All right. So it's not like we're going to have to do it every single day regardless of the topic.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

That way, you know, it's like for a while it was Davo. He did an awesome job. But he's got a job now. And, you know, like I've been doing it and kind of switching out with people. But I think if we had sort of like a general pool of mods, that might be a good thing. You know? And if we only go to once a month, then it's much less happening less often. Yeah. So I think we could keep that pretty organic at this point. But I think the change in schedule is a good thing.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

You know, I'd encourage well, Maritz is the only one here, I believe, who's in an international node or a non. That's a very U.S. Centric term in a non-American node. Because Lee is also in a non-American node, Canadian node. You know, outside of the states, essentially. One. Thing that I had really envisioned for the nodes are pretty much the primary purpose that I thought of for the nodes was so that artists in a specific geographical area can get together and organize physical shows. So we had a show in Southampton. Maybe we can have a show in Berlin or in Montreal. Hint, hint. You know? And that could be basically artists. You know? I see that as being the model could be the way that the Southampton show is formulated, which is artists in the local area in that country or in that city can bring their work down to the space.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

Like the first thing is find a space, a physical space. You know, virtual shows are awesome, but physical shows are better. That way you can get press, you can get people, you know, talking about this. And get the regional artists together. Anyone who can get work down there, ship it inexpensively. That would be the core of the show. You know, in my opinion. Like the German node. Get the rest of the German people together. German artists, you know? I mean, there's some really good artists. Two of the people that sold work out of the Southampton show were Felix Rothschild and iCatch. Both, you know, German artists who were pretty awesome. If you're not following them, you should check them out.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

And. You know, I think that would be, you know, it's a big undertaking. But if it's something where, you know, and I see Tommy Kingsborough Art Museum, Brooklyn Summer 2024. Nice. Awesome. You know, and I'm kind of been trying to work with Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky and maybe organizing something at Yale. He's going to be artist in, he's artist in residence there now and is going to be, I think, next year as well. I think it's the. It's CCAM, which is. What is it?

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

Center for it's something that. It's collaborate arts. I spoke there once and Cynthia joined me for something we did there. So yes, you were there exhibiting once and Vernata just gave a talk there and I was there and you know I'm in New Haven. But I've never met him in person. So. Right. I think that his residency might be sort of remote primarily, but he's also, you know, on campus sometimes, but you know, that can be something that can be pretty cool. And then, you know, as far as international shows go. What I did for the Southampton show was I solicited international submissions that people sent in work to me, and I had, you know, these aluminum panel pieces fabricated fairly inexpensively.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

You know, where I am or in. Actually, they were fabricated in New York City, you know, and they were, they were, I think, maybe 100 bucks each, you know, and there was a budget to work with from the, the exhibition center for the Southampton Art Center, but it was put together fairly inexpensively. And then each one of those works I think was sold for like 750 or something like that, you know, which went wholly to the artists. You know, there was no. No. Actually, no, I think Southampton Art Center might have taken 30% or something like that. But two German artists and a Russian artist, I believe the Russian artist, Moonth, had to be paid in some, in some form of cryptocurrency, because he is in Russia.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

That was interesting to, to educate the folks over there about that. But, so yeah, that's kind of my rant about the, the, the nodes. But that's another, you know, thing related to this idea of growth. I have two other things, which are, there's a service called Group Tweet that I've been looking at and playing with a little bit. And basically what it is, is it allows you, and you guys can Google it, Group Tweet. It allows an account on Twitter to have multiple contributors. So, for instance, I have a group of people. And I've been working with them since the Techspressionism account on Twitter has been fairly dormant.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

My, you know, my bad on that one. There's just too much that I've been doing to be able to concentrate on the Twitter account. But I think that this would be a really interesting way to handle it is, if there are people that would like to, you know, who are active Twitter users, essentially. You know, send me a demo on Instagram with your Twitter handle. Like, I don't use Twitter a whole lot, but, or just put it in the chat, actually. That would be even better. You know, and I'll put it out there in the various channels. But the way it works is, anytime one of the people on the list, quote unquote, which would be artists who are down with this, uses the hashtag Techspressionism on any one of their tweets. It automatically gets sent to them. And then the people get retweeted from the Techspressionism official account.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

Which is pretty hit. Like, it'll hit a whole bunch of new people. Get you new followers. And I have to do literally nothing. You know? Other than I'll tag my tweets with a hashtag also. You know, but that way it's like the actual group tweeting their stuff. You know what I mean? And that could be their own personal shows coming up. Like artwork. I don't care. Like, content is content. You know? And the more the merrier when it comes to this. So, if anyone is interested in being added to this list, I'm going to self fund this. Because I figure it's worth it. You know? There's, you know, and I've been contributing for the hosting and other stuff. Which is, you know, I think it's, that's what I'm definitely something I'm willing to do. To help move this thing forward. So, if anyone is interested in being, you know, a part of this.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

You know, connected to the account. Just put your Twitter handle in the chat. And I will take note of it. You know, there's no, basically, there's no downside to it. Other than your tweets get retweeted by the Techspressionism account. Which has some good followers. I believe, maybe Tina Rivers, Ryan, and some other, like, you know, pretty good curators follow the account at this point. People from Mokta, which is Museum of Contemporary Digital Art. Stuff like that. So, yeah.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

You know? And depending on how many people are interested. Then it will determine, you know, the cost of the level of subscription. You know, we can always add more people. As happens. So, you know, it will still get tweeted out from your account. It will also get retweeted from, you know. The Techspressionism account. But it will also have your handle on it. So, anyone that sees a tweet, probably going to follow you. You know what I mean? People who are interested in it or retweet your tweet are then retweeting your handle also. So, you know, this social media thing, there is sort of like a real basis for it in memetics. If you want to think about things in terms of memetics and the way that ideas propagate themselves through us human hosts.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

Not going to get too deep in that. But. And then the last thing is I created a flyer to be used just locally here in Vermont where I am. I figured there's a cool coffee shop down the street from me. And why not create a flyer that has a QR to the salon sign up. Maybe there's some people. Bennington College is right up the street. And I figured there's going to be some kids running by who are artists who might be interested. So, you know, I could post that up somewhere. Share a link. I could post a link to it. I'd say I could even do that while some of the artists are sharing. And then I could share the download in the chat. But it has links to the Wired article, PBS, other mentions, Wikipedia, you know, things like that. All things that are legit for expressionism.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

And then to the salon sign up as well. And it gives some background on the movement and stuff like that. So I think, you know, if people are willing to put them up around, you know, wherever they are, then that's going to drive people here. Also, you know, people have brought up the idea of stickers or something that could help, you know. I mean, this is something that I've thought about for a long time. And Tommy, you're in New York. Christina, are you in Miami?

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

I'm in Orlando. Orlando. Okay. So, I mean, I'm thinking, you know, if there's a sticker that we could download and then send to Sticker Mule or a place like that for like 10 days. And then maybe we could put it on our inbox to get a whole stack of them. And I'm thinking basically like a QR code, you know, to the website with maybe it has a little T logo in it or maybe it says on the outside like you're a Techspressionist when you say you are or something. Maybe it should say Techspressionism on the sticker.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

But, you know, that's it. And it would be like guerrilla marketing, you know. I worked at an agency in the city called Renegade Marketing Group. They're an offshoot of Dentsu, which is basically the largest agency in the world. They're a Japanese agency. And this was their guerrilla social media and interactive arm. They were in Chelsea Market. And they did stuff like creating stickers that they put on bananas in supermarkets for like their clients, you know, like really wacky stuff that was total guerrilla advertising. And, you know, it's effective. It shook people up. You know, also I think I don't know if they were behind it, but there was a campaign for Snickers where like it was on the sides of bus stops in Manhattan. And all you see is like the big Snickers bar but no branding on it and just like the label halfway peeled open.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

It was for like Snickers dark or something like that. And then on the other side of the bus stop, it was like the Snickers bar with like the light shining on it and you see it's Snickers. So like, you know. There's this. And actually one other idea that I had about marketing and advertising, and this might be something where, you know, we raised some money, we could do it, is to have Google ads that are basically just black.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

Nothing else on them. And, you know, I mean, it could be a fun art project. I mean, I love ad busters and these other things where you're essentially appropriating advertising media as art and messing with people. So that I think would be pretty cool. That's pretty fun. And then, you know, it could point to the Wikipedia page, it could point wherever. And not even with anything relating to expressionism. It's sort of anti-advertising.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

And that fits in with our whole monochrome idea. Or maybe it could be different colors, you know, whatever. I just think it'd be fun. I don't know if Google would accept those as ads or Facebook. They could be meta ads, whatever, you know. But it might be a fun art project for us all to get involved in.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

So that's it, you know. Those are some ideas. I'll probably upload something while you guys are sharing. And does anyone else have anything on the topic of growth as per expressionism to share before we jump into artist shares? Sorry, I'm kind of coughing now. But I wanted to talk about I raised my hand when you were talking about the whole concept of expressionism.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

I think I need a little time out, though. Does somebody else have something to say about that? Okay. Well, I'll plow through and hopefully not cough too much. Which is that I think Roz really is aware of this, too. The whole history of computer art is very much focused on algorithmic artists and people who programmed their images. And those people are wonderful. And some of the stuff that happened in the 60s and 70s was really fabulous.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

But what I love about this is that it's not just about the people. It's about the people. And I think that's the thing that I love about expressionists is the emphasis on image-based work. And by image-based, I don't mean necessarily representational imagery. But image-based work, that is not included in history. It's as if what people now think of as the Photoshop aesthetic fell from the sky by the Photoshop engineers. But those of us who were in computer. I mean, I've been on computers since 83. So those of us who are pioneers in Uh-oh.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

I think we lost Cynthia. Was she smitten for doing the verboten? I don't know. Oh, go ahead, Cynthia. We lost you for a minute. Stop. Everyone froze up for me for a minute. I'm not sure what that was. But now you guys are all moving. The internet is unstable. It must be the smoke. I am Canada. What? Canada? Yeah.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

Lee, are you smoking down there? Oh, about there. We are at the unhealthy. We're in purple right now. If anybody's going to airnow.gov to check out the purple, I'm going to check where I am in New Haven is purple. And I have bad lungs. So that's how I'm coughing. So anyway, how much did you hear what I said?

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

Most of it. So that was a good bit that you said that, you know, beyond code, there were people who have been painting with this medium who the, you know, the story hasn't really been told. And it's not just painting. It's, you know, it's. Yeah. Media collage. It's all kinds of new imagery. And that is.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

Really written out of history because it doesn't fit. The. Why my own opinion about it. And maybe we should have, we can talk about this more. But my opinion is that art history in general focuses so much on materiality. You know, they're the people who worked in bronze. So there are people who worked in oils and the people, you know, they're the people who worked in the gold. And so, you know, And the ideas don't count. As much as the material. And so people are really into the algorithmic artists because they came up with a new material. But I think that people who were image based. In. You know, the eighties nineties. And even today. With integrating AI.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

People are coming up with new ideas. And I think that's really important. It's been really important. And everybody who's here right now is really important. Tommy, why am I seeing two of you? Okay. I'm going to get off. Okay. Just to speak to that really quick, you know, Helen Harrison made a real big point.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

Of. Inserting the word approach into the definition. Instead of I originally had come up with. You know, And artistic style. In which technology is utilized as a means of expressing emotional experience. Rather than the outs impressions of the outside world or something. And on our first salon. Which was myself.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

Steve Miller, Helen. Oz fan Rosen and Patrick. We talked about the definition primarily. And. Helen's contribution was to switch. The word style out for approach. Which made a big difference in that, you know, All of a sudden it's not work that all looks the same. Like most surrealist work is somewhat related aesthetically.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

A lot of, you know, I mean, abstract expressionist work is pretty diverse, but you know, a lot of movements are based on stylistic similarity. Whereas an approach is basically using technology. In any way. The artist sees for himself. To express his feelings. To express emotional experience, which is the expressionist.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

You know, component of it. And so. I think that is a, you know, that's an important aspect of what expressionism is to differentiate it from. You know, a stylistic or materialistic material based. Grouping. And I definitely agree. Cynthia. You know it'd be awesome if we had a book to capitulate that if only there was an academic who was you know very experienced and entrenched in academia who could who could come up with it I don't know of anyone that might be interested in that Cynthia right here on our call she's the one it's not to put you on the spot you're here there have been books I mean there have been books in the past but they're pretty much forgotten well the book would be expressionism and then insert subtitle here you know that's what it would really take to push this into a term of art historical nomenclature in my opinion I'm not enough of an art historian to write the book but Vivian welcome I don't want to put you on the spot either but glad to be here I don't want to interrupt or anything but maybe I can I can make a good start on expressionism and add a bit of my academic input I'm not an artist but in your case you're an artist and you're an artist and you're an artist and you're an artist I'm an art student I'm a break from my community I'm a class I study well a mix of I'm an art student I'm a class I study well a mix of management and digital art so I will I'm an art student I'm a class I study well a mix of management and digital art so I will I'm an art student I'm a class I study well a mix of management and digital art so I will do my best and do my best and would be very happy to work with you so maybe I can help on that maybe I can make a start a very humble start well that's awesome I really I appreciate that and you know if you're comfortable with putting either you know one of your social media handles or some way to get the artist here can get in contact with you via the chat that's not going to be made public it's you know the YouTube recording does not include chat transcripts but that would be a way that artists that are here could reach out to you if they're interested in participating and I think what Renata had told me about your dissertation that you're interested in the sort of the socio-cultural impacts or you know sort of basis for Techspressionism is that a an accurate sort of description of what you're interested in yes actually I was starting to think about what I was doing in my career and I was thinking about how I was doing with my professor about it and she's the one who suggests me to look more on expressionism and I'm very interested in socio-political themes so she was like maybe you can talk with the artist and ask them about how they present maybe such themes through the art so Renata suggested suggested that I approach the group as a social sculpture.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

So that's very interesting and I'm looking into that. I'm still in the process of research and trying to understand it and watching previous salons. So yeah, it's very in a very humble state. But if you have any suggestions about maybe I can shift the focus and I don't know, like, make it a bit better because in my head I was like, Okay, I want to.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

Search about this new movement, art movement but also maybe you're looking to my interests. So maybe you have any suggestion to better approach this I'm very open to your suggestions as well. Well I did speak with Renata you know prior to you guys connecting again. And one thing that we talked about was, you know, in the manifesto in the Techspressionist Manifesto, which is a written manifesto that was originally kind of created you know inspired by things like this surrealist manifesto by Breton Breton I guess not sure exactly the best way to pronounce it and Marinetti's futurist manifesto I thought you know if it's going to be legit. You have to have a manifesto right I mean it was a little bit tongue in cheek, but also not. So the manifesto was, I just pasted that in there, and then Renata came up with an addendum to it which became the title of the manifesto.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

And it's the 10th 11th point, and I originally wrote the version one of the manifesto, and then Patrick kind of reworked it. And then we're not a came up with this 11 tenant, which is as a social sculpture, which is something that was invented by the artist German German artist Joseph boys is also one of the founders of the Green Party in Germany.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

Expressionism aims to embrace and promote gender equality. It is inclusive and open to all artists, regardless of socio economic position, gender and sexual orientation. It seeks to support mental health and transcends borders and political parties. So that to me is sort of a synopsis of the social cultural mission, so to speak, of this group. It's, you know, obviously the manifesto is something that's open to revision. But I think that's pretty good. And I made a point with the curation of the manifesto. The artist who contributed to the international work on aluminum panels. I think it was 15 different countries represented in the 16 panels, you know, including Afghanistan, Iran, Ukraine, Russia, things like that are countries that are underrepresented in the American audience. Art industry, so to speak.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

So that's one thing. And then, you know, I also suggested possibly focusing on interviewing some of the artists in the Iranian node, which is, you know, basically a fairly active node. It was the first node that was established by, you know, some of the artists here in conjunction with Patrick. And it's also a place where people don't necessarily have the freedom of speech or expression, specifically women.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

And it is primarily female artists who are, you know, running that node. So that can be a very interesting, you know, part of the, you know, this exploration. So yeah, I mean, I'm kind of grabbing a lot of the time here. So I want to open it up to other artists. But, you know, Vivian, welcome. Definitely really good to have you here. And, you know, if you have any questions, you know, feel free to reach out to me directly or Renata or pretty much anyone, the artists. You go to Techspressionism.com slash artists.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

That's where you'll find the artist index. And I think we have 42 or 43 countries represented now over 300 artists. And that's pretty much been from each one of them, basically, either I've found on Instagram or Renata has found on Instagram hashtag. So that's another important part of the movement. What Techspressionism is all about is the use of the hashtag Techspressionism to source artists and also to, you know, allow artists to self-identify.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

And, you know, that's been the primary, the primary way that this has grown as a meme or an idea is through the use of the hashtag, which is now up to, 62,429 posts. And that's within the last three years. So I'll post a link to that in the chat too, to the, to the hashtag on Instagram. But that's happening just on its own now at this point, you know, and not doing anything to help spread the hashtag. So I feel like at some point that'll hit a tipping point on its own, you know, and we're just kind of on for the ride. But, you know, I think that if you look at the hashtag, there's some really cool artists in there that many, most of whom haven't even been to the salons. So there's all these different facets of what Techspressionism is all about. And, you know, and a lot of work in there is actually generative, generative work.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

So anyway, without further ado, I am going to call on, well, did everyone lower their hand already? Does anyone want to show Michael? Yeah. I just wanted to quickly follow up with some of what you've, said, and you've kind of hit a few points that I was thinking about, but I think one of the unique things with Techspressionism is the technology side of the equation. And, and I know we've been trying to appeal to artists, but one of the things that I think is challenging that I think we have some room for possibilities here would be appealing to, to galleries.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

And that, and what I mean by that is you think of all the challenges you had Colin putting together the show last year, and technology is an essential element. And a lot of galleries are, I don't want to say, you know, stuck in the, the, the 2D world or the non-tech world, but I think a lot of people are looking for new, new opportunities. And if we can establish this as a movement that's worldwide, potentially we might be able to make some headway with galleries to take notice of how technology can be used to expand the concept of what a gallery is.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

I think that would benefit all of us as artists, especially Techspressionists, and in the community. With regards to whether it's display possibilities, the use of the internet, in our society. And I think that's a very good point. Nfts, AI, I mean, there's, there's a lot of things now that have a buzz going on in our society. Society. And I think galleries could benefit from that. And it would be great not only to expand the number of artists that are part of this group, but it would be a great almost PR or, you know, a way to look at can we leverage interest in some galleries that either have a proclivity to wanting to be part of what's going on in the world or have maybe a little bit of technology base there, and then move from that point. And I think that's just a natural growth that is unique to this group that no other movement has had before.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

I agree. We just need a point person to take the lead on that. Would you have any interest in doing that, Michael? Oh, I don't know. I wouldn't want to do it on my own. Well, I think it would need to be sort of like a group. If there were a number of other artists. That would want to be on some kind of, you know, spearheading group.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

Yeah. To be honest, I am. Yeah. And to be honest, I am working with some of the contacts that I have in the technology front that are looking at these types of issues. So, I mean, I think there are things that potentially could be happening behind the scenes. But I wouldn't want to do it on my own. Well, one other way to approach it is the way that like Roz drafted a format for the interviews. And then people could take it and run with it. So, like, if there's a model to approach galleries with what we're doing, it could be just a draft manuscript. Okay. Basically a pitch. You know what I mean? And then each one of us has our own gallery contacts, right? You know, to some degree, varying degrees. So, that format could then be used to go. You know, to make a pitch for a group show or even a solo show, whatever.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

There could be multiple ones where it's seen through the lens of expressionism. And that really helps grow this thing. You know, there's a couple galleries that seem to, you know, like or, you know, have given me some level of engagement through my own personal account. And that, you know, I always add the hashtag expressionism.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

You know, there's galleries like Bitforms and Postmasters. That, you know, in New York, both of them have, like, light expressionist stuff. Even David Zwirner, which I was very surprised about and pleased with. So, you know, I mean, who knows? Honestly, miles will shoot for the sky as far as I'm concerned with the long shots first, you know. And then, you know, you really never know. I mean, all you can have is rejection, which, hey, if you can't handle rejection, you're in the wrong room, basically. You know? And but, you know, the Hail Mary never hurts. You know, and I've told this story before, but when I was living downtown in East Village, I literally called the Whitney and I said, hey, you guys collect digital art? They said, oh, you know, let me connect you to someone in the curatorial department.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

So guy answers the phone. Hey, this is Larry. Can I help you? And I was like, hey, you guys collect digital art? He's like, yeah, we have some digital pieces in our collection. This is like 1999. And I was like, well, you know, I live downtown. I was wondering. I was wondering if I could come in and show you some of my work. And he's like, sure. You know, like what time is good for you? What day is good for you? And I was like, I don't know. We came up with the time and day and, you know, like the good, you know, 90s, like punk web developer slash skater. I had blue hair. So I put on my best suit with blue hair, went to the Whitney. And it turns out it was Lawrence Rinder. That's Larry, the head curator at the time of the Whitney Museum. And I sat down with him. And I sat down with him and showed him my work.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

And, you know, I didn't buy anything. He didn't put me in the Whitney. But it just proved to me that, like, stuff like that can happen. You know what I mean? Didn't know me from a hole in the wall. And I didn't show him my work beforehand. So you never know. That's kind of the moral of the story. And, you know, he's not at the Whitney any longer. I think he's out in California as the dean of some art school there.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

But, you know, it never hurts to make that happen. You never know. So, yeah. You know, and I'm trying to give Steve Miller, you know, a nudge to, you know, represent, so to speak. Because he's got some good stuff out there. You know, he's in the French National Collection and some other stuff. You know, so he's got some good hookups in the art world.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

Yeah. So any artists want to share their work on the topic? Any other topic for that matter? We'll open it up to what you're making right now. How about that? Anyone making anything in here? Well, I'm not. Oh, go ahead. Someone was going to say something. Who was it? Me. I'm sorry. You want to add anything? I was thinking about how in the past year I've learned or I feel I have grown in understanding I'm going to have days where I don't feel creative and that's okay. And there will be days where I make things that are crap or at least maybe crap to me but that's okay and I can keep going. And then, you know, it's important to when you make something that you really like, like celebrate that. And like Colin said earlier, like really think like I'm the best, even if like nobody else thinks that's not important.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

Growth isn't, you know, the number of followers, the number of people approaching you to work with you. You know, in the past, as a perfectionist, I've really gotten caught up in that. And I used to think growth was a lot or really had to do a lot rather with how well I thought my work was looking or, you know, how beautiful I thought it was. But it's more about, for me, accepting, you know, the ebbs and flows.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

Anyway, so I just wanted to share that because right now I've been struggling a little bit to create something, but I'm realizing that's part of my growth as an artist. So thank you all. Thanks, Christina. And one thing I'd like to add to that, and that's something that I also went on a big hiatus, you know, so I just started making work this year, like this past month, really.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

But what I have been doing is I've been consistently trying to post one image a day to Facebook and Instagram and just pulling from my archive of images. And, you know, like Facebook tells you, like, you're. Engagement has grown X number of days in a row. They just want to see people post content. It's just like that's their business. You know what I mean? So if you consistently post every day and there's things like later.com and you can use to schedule them, you know, your, your reach will grow. It's just a separate activity for making work. But people, you know, say, oh, you know, no one has any control over what happens to them in the art world. It's, you know, who, you know, or hit or miss. It is absolutely not. It's sitting down. It's sitting down. It's doing work as if you're promoting some other person.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

Separate and, you know, completely apart from the making of the work. Separate activity altogether. And, you know, you have to, you know, get 99 rejections to get that one, you know, sort of acceptance. Just the way it goes, you know. So anyway, talk to me. I'm going to follow up with that point counterpoint.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

I've always been pretty. I've always been pretty productive in my life, but I do find, and maybe it's getting a little older, but there are times when I just need to feed myself and just nurture. There's just so much coming in. And I think feeding that soul and just letting yourself breathe, if you can afford to do that and work something else, you know, with your work, that's a little more mindless. I all of a sudden those seeds and you will they'll start responding again. So we all have different methods of working and none of them. Or, you know, there's no one way. So I like what Colin said, too, because certainly discipline is a big part of it. I wanted to say just in terms of new work and I don't necessarily have to show it, but I just like to share that having been in digital media since my paintings filled with squares in New York City in the 80s in a way that I didn't know what the hell, you know, that led me into this whole thing and into using the medium to sort of speak to the media today that is changing our lives.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

I find that lately I've been picking up Conti crayon and drawing sticks and I'm actually showing a couple of drawings at Carter Burden Gallery this summer and I'll send out a little thing. You'll see you'll probably see something about it. But I mean, they're crazy little pieces like honey or in bed with Virginia Woolf, like, oh, hey, Siri. And then in Prince, he's in bed with Virginia Woolf. And it's so I've been drawing on one plane instead of my usual Photoshop of millions.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

Oh, my watch is talking to me. Damn, it's taking away from this stuff. But instead of using Photoshop and all the layers I do in my interactive diamondscape paintings, I'm just letting it all go to hell on one plane. I just picked up some of my Conti crayon and pencils and stuff and just said, I'm going to make it all like, oh, to hell with this. I'll move your leg. Oh, honey, the eggs are burnt. I mean, anything that came into that sphere. And it's just these drawings are just they're crazy. Like, they're nuts. I mean, one is called Honey. I, you know, I overcook the eggs. It's about my husband cooking in the kitchen. But it has like Google Notes flying through it and all sorts of things. And you know what? I think those kind of pieces. And if we can speak to that, maybe in dialogue or in our videos and stuff, those kind of stories, I think, that speak to the larger influence of tech.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

I'm sorry. My watch keeps saying I don't know how to respond to that. I just want to go throw it out the window. Anyway, so I'm just sharing with you that's been kind of fun. But am I still very much a part of this group and that this has been an explosion in the world that is changing everything and it's changing everything. And it's been completely, I mean, in so many ways ignored, except in sort of academia. And I'd say generative art. And I think code is huge. I mean, you know, I started I learned in HTML. It's great. But, you know, just because you use a pigment like Alzheimer and Crimson, you know, you don't just talk about the pigment and the beauty of that pigment. It's what are the artists doing with it? And I think that's a larger dialogue, too.

Colin Goldberg // North Bennington VT

Well, there you go. Thanks, Roz. So I see that Jaime has his hand up. Would you like to share some work? We need

To have some screen shares here because the rest of the world is going to want to see some art once we post this on YouTube. Yes. Hello, team expressionists. My name is Jaime. My professional background is in art, architecture and computers. I'm located in Astoria, New York, and I have been quite active in the artistic community, local artistic community in Long Island City.

Jaime Bautista

I already mentioned to you before that. We have a gallery for like artists. And but that's not my point right now. Today, I probably might start showing my work. I never had the chance to do it because the first time I didn't succeed. But this time I hope I can succeed. In related to this subject growth.

Jaime Bautista

Okay. So I came up with the idea that my work, I don't call it growth. I call process. I started many years ago. Actually, I started working in Germany. I think Moritz might be already familiar with that one. If you're not, then today you will know it and we can get some artists. Okay. I'm going to start showing my work. My work is. It's archived in one of these self publishing stores, which is blurb.

Jaime Bautista

And all my work is there. I normally I don't sell it, but if I'm not here to sell it, but if you are curious to know about my work, I'm going to share that with you. And I'm going to do it now. Okay. Can everybody see it? Yes. No. Yes. Okay. You can see it. I started before I started doing this work. It was pretty much in doing architectural designs, but combining art, my experience in art, my experience in painting. Photography and then I decided to start using paper and pencil and putting in writing something and as a result of that I came up with this idea to have a project and I called organic mutant architecture this was based in my experience in by living in Germany and using all my creativity and putting in writing and I'm going to start flipping the pages right now which is one book out of 17 that I have published okay this work I started doing by using paper and pencil and then of course I had to publish my put my authorship my name and start already creating my drawings these are drawings by hand and then I manipulated in the in the computer and used Photoshop and different software programs and then but the basic drawings were by hand and I'm going to go a little bit quickly that you can have an idea of what exactly my organic mutant architecture is based in the characters that I met in my life meaning good experiences bad experiences taking objects for the nature for instance this came up as an idea from an airport because I was somewhere in Europe and then I came up with an idea about how I say, yeah, this looks like an airport, and this looks like a shrimp, or this looks like whatever.

Jaime Bautista

But then those are my ideas, and also based on the elements that I see every day, the elements that I work every day. So then I keep putting together, and I like to make this organic. And then when it's organic, that is turning into something living creatures that I'm trying to keep in my records. These drawings I already exhibit in the galleries over here in Long Island City. And also I decided to publish.

Jaime Bautista

These are basically buildings. High-risers. Because that's what I do. I design high-risers. I design except houses. I design industrial buildings. I design public buildings. I design all kinds of buildings except house, because I don't have a house, and I don't want to have a house. So instead, I have the flexibility to design all kinds of buildings. So this is book number one.

Jaime Bautista

And then I'm going to see if I can go to show you other books that I have been working. Yeah, I'm going to go all the way to the top. Actually, to the first one. Yeah. Of course, I published one book of photography. Related to the civil unrest that we had. There's a very substantial information in this book. If you have the chance to look at it, to browse it, you're welcome. I will share the link of all my books that you can look at it. Also, I have another book which I call The Timeline. This is related to how I started, when I started, and where I am going. And Big picture. Because for me, I create every day. Between 10.30 p.m. And midnight, I'm working.

Jaime Bautista

I'm producing something, doing my artwork. And I come up with different ideas. I come up with different subjects. And that's what I call process. You know, for this theme, for today's presentation, it's perfect, the growth. Where I started. And where I am going. And how can I keep producing more. So, creativity is just normal for me. So, and then also I have another one, which is New York City After Dark. This is during the pandemic and during the social unrest. And this is also very strong collection of photography and drawings based in all this. You know, there are lots of events that happened.

Jaime Bautista

As you know very well. And before that, I created a different type of art. Which I call Utopian Architecture. Which is looking at the future of what will happen in many years from now. It's also a collection of pretty substantial strong images. Also, I have another book. Which is called Empty Architecture, where everything is abandoned. There's nothing, there's no life there, just buildings. But I'm not going to talk much about that. But I would like you to visit and probably you'll get some ideas and then say, hey, I have a work like that and I can make myself my own and just do it. Because I don't know if you're familiar with these publishers, but this is a free software that you use. You collect your work. You are the editor. You are the photographer.

Jaime Bautista

You are the artist. And you are the writer. And then you publish. It's up to you to come up with a concept. It's up to you to come up with the idea of how your book would look like. And then when you are ready to publish, I think depending on what you're doing, depending on what you select, maybe the materials, maybe the size, maybe all that. And then you end up paying like $150, $100 for one book. And then also if you have friends, you can share with them. And if you can sell it, that's great. That's success.

Jaime Bautista

I have another book, which is basically related to my architecture. This is a collection of the buildings that I designed. Throughout my life as an architect. Also, I do photography. So this book I call Black and White Architecture, which is also very, very interesting for me. And then also I have another book, which is called Architecture of Subterranean Species, which is related to the humans that we commute over here in the subway over the bay, which is pretty interesting. Very intense. And you get a lot of ideas of how to produce art. And then I have another one that is called Reverse Engineering. This is related to what and the way we work in these days. We come up with ideas. Oh, it looks like it's brand new. No, it's not brand new. It's already done. Let's go backwards. And let's start from the beginning.

Jaime Bautista

So that's what I call reverse engineering. Then I have... Another book, which is called Curvan Explorer. This is about photography. Exploring every corner of the city or around the world where you go. You just keep documenting. And then at the end of the day, you can have a substantial amount of images and you publish.

Jaime Bautista

And there's another book that I call Dark. This is really very dark because for some reason, I am focused in the dark side because that's my experience over here. And then I have a few other more books, you know, that I call Architectural Hallucinations. I call Architectural Social Organisms. And then I have the Ghost Architecture and so forth. So I would be more than welcome to share with you this link where you can... And of course, this is a collection of my work. But I have additional work in my website that is not published. I have some... Right now, I'm producing very 30-second videos, one-minute videos about everything that I have in my hands. AI, Photoshop, Blender, Revit, Microchip.

Jaime Bautista

And I have a few other works that I use for work. And I use this to produce art. Thank you very much for listening. And I hope you enjoy it. And I'm going to share this... The link with you when I stop sharing. Okay. Thanks, Jaime. Also, I wanted to let you know and the other artists in here that we do have a lot of great artists here. We have a reading list page that is basically on the website. Let me just see if I can post a link to it. It's just Techspressionism.com slash reading.

Jaime Bautista

Let's see if that's right. Yeah. I'm going to post that in the chat. Techspressionism.com slash reading. So that has the catalog from the Southampton Show, which you can buy on Amazon and also download the e-book. Again, like I published on Amazon, I take 0%. Also, it has books, links to books by Techspressionist artists. So we have books by Victor Acevedo, Davonte Bradley, Holly Gordon, Patrick Lichty, DJ Spooky, Steve Miller, Joseph Nechvatal, and Spalter and Sasha Stiles. And if anyone else in here has... Any books that they've published, please send me the links and I will add them. I think also we might be adding a section for academic publications that are relevant to Techspressionism. I know Cynthia Beth Rubin shared a paper that she had written some time ago that is relevant. It's not about Techspressionism per se, but I think that if anyone in the group wants to share papers that are either published or unpublished, I'd be happy to post them on the website.

Jaime Bautista

So, yeah. And we're kind of getting close to time here. We have five more minutes. This meeting kind of got into a discussion mode more than show and tell. But let's see who's next.

I see Susan. There's Susan, David, and Lee. I mean, if you guys can each do a quick share, we can get everyone. Like two minutes, essentially, like just show some work, you know, because we don't really have a lot of time left. I apologize. So I guess we'll start with David. Well, there's David and Lee now.

David Bloom

Okay, I wanted to... This isn't my work. This is a site in Chicago called 150 Media Spring. I wanted to share it with the group. I'm actually going to take a look at it on Friday. Let me try and share my screen. Can you guys see? Yeah. So this is... These are 89 LED blades. And they're in varying heights up to 22 feet tall. And this whole thing is 150 feet long. And I guess what they're doing is I'm getting a tour of it by the curator Friday afternoon if our schedules work out. They have different exhibits that go in here. This is in a lobby of a relatively new building in downtown Chicago along the Chicago River. And I thought... And I'm trying to get this artist to come to one of our meetings. I thought that maybe this artist might be interested in participating in Techspressionism. And I also thought maybe there's an opportunity for the Techspressionism artist to do something like this.

David Bloom

I don't know if it's a good idea to do some type of group show or collaborative show or something here. So I just... The website is 150mediastream.com. Or you can Google it. So maybe... If there are any thoughts that you guys or anyone has any reactions that you'd like me to take to the curator, I can certainly do that. Be interested in your thoughts and feedback.

David Bloom

Yes. You know, I would say to the curator, I would say, I'm not going to be interested in doing this. I'm going to be interested in doing this. And I would say to the curator, just try to tell them about Techspressionism in a nutshell. I would give them a link to the Wikipedia page first and then to the official site as well. But, yeah, you know, I think that may be of interest. And it can be something where there's certainly a lot of artists that have material that can, you know, show itself well on an installation like that. So appreciate it. I just thought this was really cool. So I had to go check it out. Yeah.

David Bloom

So I'm going to say to the curator, and I'm just going to say I'm not going to be interested in doing this. I'm just going to say I'm not going to be interested in doing this. And I'm just going to say I'm not going to be interested in doing this. And I'm just going to say I'm not going to be interested in doing this. And I'm just going to say I'm not going to be interested in doing this. And I'm just going to say I'm not going to be interested in doing this. And I'm just going to say I'm not going to be interested in doing this. And I'm just going to say I'm not going to be interested in doing this. And I'm just going to say I'm not going to be interested in doing this. And I'm just going to say I'm not going to be interested in doing this. There's a couple artists you know that have been very active on there posting images and that would basically be you know making sure the salons get posted I'd love it if someone who has experience creating facebook events could help create events for these salons that would be a real good way to boost you know attendance things like that you know would definitely help with reach so you don't need to respond now but you know maybe if anyone is interested in doing that I find that the people that are most involved in this sort of interest infrastructure level also get the most visibility you know in terms of just by virtue of doing this stuff you know what I mean so there's that's definitely you know consideration all right so that we have lee and susan and we can go a little bit longer just to get everyone in if you guys want but just please keep your shares brief like two or three minutes you can always open it up after that screen's still shared yeah david can you stop your sharing sure I'm not exactly sure how hang on oh here we go all right thanks

I'll go briefly I'm gonna try to be very brief and also I wanted to say hi from renata who I talked to on zoom right before this meeting but she couldn't come so she asked me to say hi and so this is a time of year for me that I do some assessment because it's birthday time for me and I celebrate that from may middle of may to middle of june so I was thinking about growth and I'll just go directly to sharing with you guys and I'll be back in a minute so I was thinking I think I'll do something different than I had a longer presentation but I'll I wanted to talk about just briefly one of the things that I have learned and I think of growth as related to learning for me and I have a project that I'm have been doing for a long time and I'm going to talk about it in a minute but I'm going to talk about it in a minute but I'm going to talk about it in a minute but I'm going to talk about it in a minute and I've been doing since the accelerator program where I do a collaboration with another artist and I asked for an image that's related to my nft collection of roses and a person I don't even know her real name crypto kitty this woman that lives in england was the last collaboration person and she sent me this image that and I used a variety of apps to create some I use clip to comic to make some of these images and also an app called pixlr and I'm just going to go briefly through the images that I created and then show you a little bit of where is it a video oh this was a I was going to show you anyway this is the final image I'll try to just be so I'm going to show you a little bit of the images that I've created and I'm going to show you a little bit of the images that I've created I minted this on monday and it has a spanish name argullosa which means pride or proud actually so I tried to coordinate the image and the mint with the full moons which is the straw strawberry moon so it's kind of pinkish and with a pride month so okay all right I think that's about pretty fast okay I'm done all right thanks susan thank you and lee go ahead I think we'll just stretch it out a little bit just so you can get in your share if you'd like to you're muted thank

You so much and well was susan was the one who came up with growth last time and I know this is kind of weird but it also related to some of the things that were said today about the digital work the algorithmic work or the code artwork versus focusing on the actual artwork and me I've always been a formalist so I'm always interested in well what does the actual form do and so sometimes it doesn't matter what the content is and what I'm shooting here is all my backyard which is a bit of a dump but and this bicycle that's been sitting there for years is broken and it basically gets cannibalized anytime we need a piece we just tear it off in this so slowly but surely that bike has been disintegrated and I don't know if you can see it's in the bottom corner it's in all these pieces but they're all deconstructed and the reason I thought about this series in particular is because well this was in springtime and I don't know if you can see it but it's in the bottom corner and it's in the middle of the street so I shoot most of the things that I shoot I go back and I revisit and revisit and I keep on trying to like focus more on the event rather than the content and see if I can get different effects but by visiting it all the time here's a different season now this is I'm getting towards the most recent shots that I've been able to get for the video so my last video on the last I here's a new video that I did and it made me think of growth because but as you can see here it's still pretty sparse and there's not a lot of life but now all of a sudden as I was shooting it a lot more a little bit of life started popping up and the more life start popping up and that's what I really wanted to share was that to me this is growth both in terms of how I learned to use the medium itself and it's not an everybody's problem it's an energy problem that's what's or the format, how I mess around with the algorithm, but also the growth of the life and the nature that just sort of overtakes this space and creates a really, to me, a really vibrant space and vibrant imagery that's really playing with the algorithm, but not so much just in look what I can make happen, more like battling with it and trying to grow in my approach.

Lee Schnaiberg

And I don't know if I've succeeded, but I hope that I am succeeding and that I am able to create something. And for me, I think that's really important. Part of it isn't even so much the end results, it's the process. And so a piece like this one here, I've managed to make these almost loop-de-loop, like a roller coaster with the panorama, and it just splits things up in a way that I love. And these kinds of effects right here, to me, are little moves that I've learned. Like when I have the camera and I'm shooting, it's like this little kind of jiggle where I'm exaggerating right now, but to get this kind of thing happening, I've worked on that for a long time and I'm really happy to be able to do it. And the fact that springtime's just exploded makes me really happy. And then while I'm not really...

Lee Schnaiberg

I don't really care all that much about the content. I do think that, you know, bicycles, it's not just Duchamp, like modern art. I mean, it makes sense because between 1888 and 1915, there was like 50 million bicycles all of a sudden. And this was like a technology that was changing people's lives. You know, if you didn't have a horse and all of a sudden you can get across town and back, this was life-changing. And so I can understand why, you know, like the Rowley brothers started making bikes in 1888. So Duchamp was doing his bicycle wheel 25 years after that. Like this was happening. And so I feel like even though I'm not always that driven by the content, I do love deconstruction and post-structuralism.

Lee Schnaiberg

And so, you know, it's not a bicycle wheel, but it's, it's definitely, I find fun. And thanks a lot for letting me share. And yeah, thanks very much. All right. Well, thanks everyone. We're a little past time at this point, but not a big deal. So yeah, we will stop the recording and, you know, anyone that wants to stick around for the after party, which is basically, you know, we talk about group stuff, and we try to, the main part of it is really trying to come up with a topic for the next salon, which we determined is going to be on July 6th at noon. And moving forward, they will be at the first Thursday of the month at noon. So we're shifting to a monthly schedule.

Lee Schnaiberg

So I'm going to stop the recording in three, two, one and cut.