Digital Art Pioneer At Hotchkiss

Mark Wilson’s new show at Hotchkiss’s Tremaine Gallery features work that feels simultaneously orderly and exuberant, intense and joyful. Vivid, lively and complex, the pieces that have been assembled for the show offer an exhilarating glimpse into the work of this digital art pioneer. 

Trained as a painter, Wilson was always drawn towards geometric and technological themes in his work. He hardly claims to be the first person compelled by these themes, saying, “Artists have had an interest in machinery and the technological world for a long time,” going on to note the Italian Futurists and the American Precisionists among other relevant artistic movements. It was Wilson’s personal path that led him, in 1980, to purchase a computer, “without yet knowing how I’d use it to make art.” 

At a time when there was little software made for artists’ use, Wilson decided to teach himself to code. Even now, having worked with computers for nearly four decades, Wilson still uses software of his own creation, though it has evolved  over the years. “My software is idiosyncratic. It’s peculiar to me. I know everything about it, and I can plug it in and let it run, but the ultimate fact is this: using the computer represented a very powerful and innovative way to create stuff.” The printing of his images has changed more dramatically, from his early use of a pen plotter (very much what it sounds like, a machine that draws images with a pen), to the large format ink jet printers that he employs today. Currently, he works with two 44” machines that make use of high quality archival ink. Describing them, Wilson says, “They sort of look like upright pianos.” Interesting to note that Wilson’s final creations, despite his use of computers, are two dimensional images printed on paper or canvas. 

While the artist’s process is fascinating, in the end Wilson’s work speaks for itself. There is a wonderful variety in the Tremaine show. At first glance, some of the pieces look as if they could be engineering blueprints, others the directions for building fantastical machines, but all reveal themselves to be more on second and third glances. In the end, computers are only a part of the world that Wilson brings to life with his work.

“Unstructured Structures” is open through May 5 at Tremaine Art Gallery at The Hotchkiss School, 11 Interlaken Road, Lakeville, CT. Wilson will give a gallery talk on April 4 at 7 p.m. For further information, please call (860)435-4423 or visit  www.hotchkiss.org.