January 20, 2005—February 26, 2005 | Reception Thursday, Jan. 20th, 6-8PM

James Harris Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of new work by Tom Baldwin. The subject matter of his digitally generated works on paper—vehicles, furniture and various common objects—is collaged together in a non-hierarchical picture space defined only by the work's circular format. Its beauty lies, as old-style Conceptualism did, in information and ideas that are also metaphors, but also with a pleasure in technology.  The impetus for this work was the collaboration between Baldwin and Viennese artist Gilbert Bretterbrauer.  The two exchanged images via the Internet, each time manipulating shape, form, color and even subject.  The resulting works are lushly colored compositions where referential material appears fleetingly or is pushed back to abstraction. The pieces are like signs or fragments adrift, stuttering thoughts redrawn based on everyday things yet transformed into color and unfixed symbols. Through the dialogue between the two artists a notion of doubling or duality arises throughout the body of work. The collaboration emphasizes Baldwin's interest in connectivity, the relationships between images and information and the flow of one thing into the next.  Formally he stresses these relationships though his use of silhouette, recurring shape and repetition. Overall, the images are essentially digital paintings, visually dispersing traditional imagery into color, pattern and form to inspire multiple impressions and entries into viewing. 

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