BitStreams & Data Dynamics at the Whitney Museum of American Art (March - June, 2001) Rather than focus on details per artist re: a couple of exhibitions at the Whitney involving this "new digital medium", I choose to comment on their validity within Contemporary Art. If you want details, click on the "Shredded" (appropriate, I suppose, since Mark Napier is the creator of the online "Shredder", and his work is presented in these shows) review to the left to read Blackhawk's from The Thing. Of course, everything is valid, they say, simply because of our existence and everything that follows as a result of, but to move into a deeper context, and begin to consciously/unconsciously evaluate the human condition through an Art medium ... is this "new one" significant, and does "it" have value ... probably so and in a general since due to the "Digital Revolution", but within isolated categories and certain "Art Circles" ... no. This trend of moving Art towards "Televisionland" with its graphical and textual dynamics ... particularly, on the Web and via software like Flash ... commercializes and compromises the approach and its Art product. Albeit, having not seen the physical installations at the Whitney, their Website counterparts, so-to-speak, totally mask and add confusion ... via Flash with too much movement ... to the announcement and presentation. It would have been better for this viewer (me) if the site had been straight-forward in its approach with more detailing (visually and textually) of the installations/pieces. Or in other words, the Web representation became nothing more than itself and of itself ... intentional? Maybe or maybe not. And having said the above, isn't that what Art is supposed to be ... itself and of itself through thought and process, even if the end result is one brush stroke on a canvas? But to find this inner-balance/counter-balance and subtlety, if you will, is not an easy task, and only a few ... some of the early Abstract painters, possibly ... have managed to convey this in their work, or as they say, find "Truth". To turn to specifics for a moment, none of the pieces in these Whitney exhibitions have this, in my opinion, except for one, possibly ... Inez van Lamsweerde's "Me Kissing Vinoodh (Passionately)" (Click on the "Shredded" ... again, thanks to Mark Napier ... Whitney front page to the left). The Whitney people have used this image on their front page, so maybe they consciously/subconsciously feel the same way I do. Lamsweerde understands the nature of subtlety by doing nothing more than digitally removing her boyfriend from an image in which they're kissing to find "Truth". For me, this action is just as powerful as the one brush stroke on a canvas, and moves this piece out of the general category of "Digital Revolution" into those isolated categories and "Art Circles". As a visual artist, I have to admit that I'm currently caught up in this "Digital Revolution" as well, but try to escape ... not easy due to its "child in a toy store effect" ... its complexities to remain within that subtle domain of "less is more". Yes, "less is more", and back to the one brush stroke on a canvas, the early Abstract painters and Lamsweerde's piece. Don Archer (MOCA) asked in his e-mail to me, "Is this important art or a technological backwater?" I believe I'll have to say that it's the latter with the aforementioned exception. And yes, my and most other's digital work fall within this category as well. I believe this inner-balance/counter-balance and subtlety can be found within this "new digital medium" ... it's just a matter of discipline, and realizing that the one brush stroke on a canvas is all that's needed. And maybe this is why I've used Mark Napier's "Shredder" to visually supplement the text on this page because the action of one keystroke (enter) ... just as the one brush stroke on a canvas ... finds "Truth"? Tom R. Chambers Visual Artist/Curator/Critic http://members.nbci.com/_XMCM/tom_chambers/index.html