Exhibition Statement

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Embodied Algorithm: [Re]embracing the Analog presents new works by Ira Greenberg completed over a two-year period. Greenberg explores the continuum between computational (digital) and human (analog) - implemented algorithms. The ultimate pieces confront viewers with large-scale snapshots of intimate moments among Greenberg’s subjects.

​Greenberg’s work is a strong departure from his previous series. His work has gradually moved away from the digital sphere and into the tactile medium of drawing. His previous project of algorithmic drawings uses self-designed coding software to alter figurative drawings. This current series of drawings moves Greenberg even further from technology. Rather than interacting with a computer interface, he engages directly with faces. The drawings force viewers to question what intimacy looks like and the forms it can take in the digital age of increasing interface-based interactions.

His return to drawing after many decades can be seen as one response to the need for individuals to feel more connected to one another in an increasingly disconnected world.

Greenberg describes how the analog process helps create deep connections between the artist and viewer, bridging time and space.

An artist's intellectual, physical and emotional states factor into every mark and decision made. In this sense a drawing is like a time machine, capturing the temporal experience of the artist's process. Though algorithms can simulate these dynamics with layers of clever randomization, the decisions are ultimately not connected to a human life. For me, one of the most captivating features of a work of art is the artist's hand/intention and the communication felt between artist and viewer, across time and space.

Greenberg’s art practice spans painting, 2D and 3D animation, print design, and web and interactive design. He is the Director of the Center of Creative Computation and Professor at SMU, with a joint appointment in the Meadows School of the Arts and the Lyle School of Engineering.

Exhibition Statement