Brain Eno's 77 Million Paintings

Photo credit: Brian Eno/lumenlondon.com via LA Times blog

Brian Eno's in town!!!!

It's Moogfest, so there's a lot of synthpop, electronic, krautrock bands playing in Asheville this weekend, and this year Moogfest has expanded its reach by adding an audio visual "act" to the lineup. Brain Eno's 77 Million Paintings, a constantly evolving environment of sound and light based on generative software, will be on display at the YMI through the month of November.

If you have a Moog pass you can go check out the installation all weekend. If you don't, the exhibit opens to the public on Wednesday November 2. Tickets will be $10 and can be purchased at the door.

On Saturday October 29, Eno will give an illustrated lecture at the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium at 2pm. Moogers get first bids on seats, and then the general public is allowed admittance for $35. (That's about 7 drinks at Broadways, or a pretty fun dining experience for one at Zambras)

Anyway, the point of this post is to urge you all to get to the YMI during the month of November to experience this "visual music" phenomenon. Allow yourself plenty of time to become fully immersed. It's so hypnotic you might have a hard time leaving.

Here's a description of 77 Million Paintings off the Moogfest website:

http://moogfest.com/brian-eno/77-million-paintings/

At a press conference Thursday October 28, Eno had some enlightening things to say about art and his creative approach. Here are some of my favorites:

(These may not be verbatim because I was writing not recording.)

"I wanted to see where the threshold of eventlessness lies."

"I really like art when it's magic. I don't like it when it's just clever."

"With all the images [in the 77 Million Paintings software banks,] there is something like 100 million cubed [possibilities.] "What you see today you won't see tomorrow. The piece you just really loved will never happen again."

"I'm anti occult in a certain way " (when asked about the spiritualist overtones in his work,) "but very pro playing with your own timing devices."

"We've dignified the act of control, but we have to learn how to surrender to things. If you can't shape them you have to learn to be a part of them."

"We consider it a huge achievement to control nature. It's also a huge achievement to surrender to nature."

"Graffiti is very much like calligraphy."

"I see myself as a gardener more than an architect. I plant some seeds, watch them come up [and then decide whether I like what's happened and how I want to alter them.]

"[I commend them because] it's like trying to reproduce a Jackson Pollack painting" (On Bang on a Can's cover of Eno's Music For Airports.)

"I have strong opinions." (when asked what makes him a good record producer.)

On art mentors in art school: "What mattered is that they had strong opinions, because that forced you to take a stance in relation to their opinions -- [whether you agreed with what they said or not.]"

Podcast of the press conference recorded by Alli Marshall for the MountainXpress: part one, part two

www.lumenlondon.com for more Eno stuff.

Gene Felice's Rapid Progression and Prototype Technology

I wrote about Gene Felice and rapid prototype technology last year when he presented work at FLOOD Gallery. In spite of how common it is, 3D "printing" was something I had never heard about. I was fascinating that objects could be produced, seemingly out of thin air, but of course, it isn't that simple. Read, Mad Science: Artist explores new technologies in art-making to learn more about Felice and rapid prototype technology.

Felice is director of the Creative Technology and Art Center hosted by the Odyssey Community School and has been an adjunct instructor at UNC Asheville and Ohio State University, where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. He has also been an active participant in the {RE}Happening events through BMCM+AC.

Here's a description of Felice's current exhibition, A Rapid Progression on display until October 4th at The Highsmith Union Gallery at UNCA until October 4th:

Gene Felice takes in the visual world around him and filters it through his imagination to produce hybrids of art and life, exploring the way biology and technology adapt over time. In A Rapid Progression Felice’s process is just as important as the product. Representations of mutating cancer cells common in Felice’s genetic history have been created using a rapid prototyping system in which Felice is able to design and print 3-dimensional objects. Felice then ads in p2, part bicycle, part power plant. Viewers are invited to hop on p2 and become an alternative energy source to power parts of the exhibit.

Check out www.injectivearts.com
and www.genefelice.com/721 for more images.