On Wednesday, the Armory Show opened its doors to VIPs and press. Combing through 208 exhibitors, new, young collectors may find combing through over 208 exhibitors daunting. Fear not, just over to Booth 842, where Galerie Andreas Huber presents pieces by NYC-born artist Travess Smalley at a price that you won’t faint over.
Two pieces of Smalley caught our eye, so we had to inquire about the price and were shocked to learn they were both under $3,000. “The drawing itself is generated by a written computer script using Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop to generate images from different variables, such as color, line thickness or transparency. By programming a computer to teach him how to draw Travess Smalley is deconstructing the process of drawing itself,” said gallery director Astrid Kurz.
She continued by saying, “the works at our booth are all dye sublimation prints on aluminum, 11 x 8.5 inches. The digital print is made on a special transparency film which is fused into the aluminum surface with heat press. Because the image is fused into the material, it is very durable, scratch and UV resistant.”
Travess Smalley, who was born in 1986, is right at the center of this discussion of contemporary redefinitions of artistic media. “Digitally, I work in the fields of photography, video, computer graphics, digital printing, and animation, while physically I work in the fields of sculpture and painting using various tools and techniques. My digital studio practice is the Yin, the physical studio practice the Yang. Basically, the tools are everywhere, and I am the conduit. I find that my work is freshest when I am moving between fields and mediums on a regular basis. My objects inform my Photoshop files and vice versa,” said Smalley.
