Arcana Obscura
"This exhibit is an investigation into the concealed nature of perception. "Arcana" suggests hidden knowledge, while "Obscura" alludes to something obscure or veiled. The title invites viewers to explore the mysterious symbolism and delve into the mysteries of personal interpretation."
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Opening Reception July 15th, 2023 4pm-6pm Artist talk 4pm 9/23/2023 Show runs from - July 15th, 2023 - October 7th, 2023 |
Press Kit
(Click above image for press kit) |
(An introduction to the creation of the exhibit.)
(These six images represent a small percentage of the entire exhibit - see the full exhibit in person or contact us for addition images and info on the entire exhibit.)
Artist - Drury Bynum
Statement
One of my first successful Midjourney AI images.
I quit painting for 20 years. It feels like a lot of lost time. Damn you, time. I started to paint again during the pandemic. It wasn’t the reunion I expected. It felt like art forgot about me too. My supplies felt like artifacts. I pushed through some abstracts and eventually came back around to portraits, figures, collages. I’d always been a kind of Zelig with my work, ping-ponging between styles, jealous of the artists who play in the sandbox with the same toys, bringing endless inventions by limiting their options. But I recently discovered Ai and it has helped me tap a vein of consistency and exploration.
I wish Ai art had never happened. We’ve all been blindsided by it. No one knows how to feel about a machine that
can draw or paint better than most of us. It seemed to come out of nowhere and it's got everyone not knowing
whether to grab a paintbrush or a pitchfork. The choices are to adapt, resist or be paralyzed. I chose all three in
reverse order.
My first attempts with Ai went like this: I told it to make a painting like I would make. The results were terrible. I showed it images of my paintings. Still terrible. So I took elements of my paintings - a bride, a camera, a pair of sunglasses. “Imagine a 1930’s bride holding a medium format camera while standing in a jungle. Now mix that with this collage.” That was my aha moment. I saw Ai as an art machine that runs on your imagination. Exploring themes can be exhilarating. Images start to fold back on themselves. It shows me what I would never invent on my own. It's textural. It’s emotional. It’s a collaboration. It needs artists.
And now I’m bringing these images into the analog world. So a new conversation begins between the image and materials. It's about my hand and my touch and making new accidents happen. It’s also about sharing a dirty secret - It shouldn’t be fun. It feels unfair, like 20 years of missing work being made up in a few months. My recent works are experiments with Ai reinvented as physical paintings and collages. I’ve always liked to experiment and have never hesitated to reinvent my style or try something new so to me it feels continuous. My hope is to have conversations with open minds and hearts so that I can be a part of an art community that is a guiding force on this new frontier.
I wish Ai art had never happened. We’ve all been blindsided by it. No one knows how to feel about a machine that
can draw or paint better than most of us. It seemed to come out of nowhere and it's got everyone not knowing
whether to grab a paintbrush or a pitchfork. The choices are to adapt, resist or be paralyzed. I chose all three in
reverse order.
My first attempts with Ai went like this: I told it to make a painting like I would make. The results were terrible. I showed it images of my paintings. Still terrible. So I took elements of my paintings - a bride, a camera, a pair of sunglasses. “Imagine a 1930’s bride holding a medium format camera while standing in a jungle. Now mix that with this collage.” That was my aha moment. I saw Ai as an art machine that runs on your imagination. Exploring themes can be exhilarating. Images start to fold back on themselves. It shows me what I would never invent on my own. It's textural. It’s emotional. It’s a collaboration. It needs artists.
And now I’m bringing these images into the analog world. So a new conversation begins between the image and materials. It's about my hand and my touch and making new accidents happen. It’s also about sharing a dirty secret - It shouldn’t be fun. It feels unfair, like 20 years of missing work being made up in a few months. My recent works are experiments with Ai reinvented as physical paintings and collages. I’ve always liked to experiment and have never hesitated to reinvent my style or try something new so to me it feels continuous. My hope is to have conversations with open minds and hearts so that I can be a part of an art community that is a guiding force on this new frontier.
Biography
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Drury Bynum grew up in the deep south, and his only exposure to art was watching his Aunt make oil paintings of Louisiana swamp scenes in her tiny studio by the kitchen. Her ability to summon rich and detailed worlds by hand seemed like magic to him, prompting him to begin drawing and painting on his own. His public school had no art program, so he became proficient at drawing faces and figures from magazines, comics and album covers.
Bynum left the south to attend MICA in 1988. There, he explored the techniques of alla prima painting and drawing figures, portraits and landscapes. He later shifted to narrative themes, using collage as a way to construct new worlds. The traditional approaches of working directly from life, married with modernist techniques of experimentation and subjective experience, were key factors in Bynum's artistic development. In 1997, Bynum received his Master’s Degree from Bowling Green University. His thesis exhibit, a body of large-scale works of backyard scenes featuring brides, photographers and Baltimore row-houses, revealed a mature stylistic identity. The scenes were colorful, visually dense moments that contained enigmatic narratives that continued to appear in Bynum’s work in the following years. The technological shift happening around the internet and the sudden availability of affordable video cameras shifted Bynum’s focus onto filmmaking in the mid-2000’s. He created his own production company specializing in innovative, narrative short films for brands. He made several documentaries focused on artists and entrepreneurs, anticipating a cultural trend for cinematic, the behind-the-scenes looks at a creative class that would eventually become today’s influencers. His work as a film director won several awards including Addys, Tellys, Hermes’ and an Emmy nomination. In 2016, he returned to narrative painting, collage, and portraiture. Another technological wave brought Ai to Bynum's attention in late 2022. It was clear to him that this would have an immense impact on the art world and he tuned in closely to the controversy. He recognized Ai as a potent tool that can create opportunities for artists, but it needs imagination and guidance from artists in order to produce culturally significant work. Drury began incorporating Ai into his own process, iterating on compositions that he then brings into the studio to deconstruct or to take in new directions as physical pieces. He believes speed and quality of Ai provides a collaborative fluency that is absent of the friction of physical materials. This type of interaction can be immensely fruitful and full of wonder. Bynum’s work is characterized by a unique blend of traditional techniques and unusual approaches, resulting in pieces that are both visually striking and conceptually rich. As he looks to the future, Bynum is excited to see where his artistic journey will take him, and is committed to using his talents to push the boundaries of what is possible in the world of art. |