C.e.b. Reas
bitforms gallery
for immediate release
529 West 20th Street
New York, NY 10011
Tel. (212) 366-6939
C.E.B. REAS
Process / Form
March 6 – April 12, 2008
bitforms gallery nyc
C.E.B. Reas debuts Process 14 and Process 18 at bitforms gallery in New York.
bitforms gallery is pleased to announce a third solo exhibition with artist C.E.B. Reas, opening March 6.
Featuring work from his Process series, the show includes software installations, unique prints, and relief
sculpture. Shown in the United States for the first time, these pieces are based in new visual systems,
Process 14 and Process 18. Also opening March 6 and marking the New York debut of Reas’ TI installation,
a concurrent exhibition titled Impermanent Markings runs at Pratt Manhattan Gallery. Friday March 7, at
6:00 PM, there will be free public lecture with the artist in the campus gallery at 144 West 14th Street.
Work by C.E.B. Reas can be understood in terms of traditional image-making techniques, however the
focus lies within finely crafted programs that define processes. Each process, or discreet set of qualitative
situations, holds the capacity for expression in user-defined media and scales. After defining each artwork
first as a rigorous, logical statement, Reas tests the flexibility of that rational system by playing with the
viewpoint and display of visual information. The dynamic physical aesthetics of these creations can be
described in geometric, concrete, and/or abstract terms.
Reas’ relationship to writing computer code is akin to Sol LeWitt’s authorship of instructions for wall
drawings, but generative software procedures in Reas’ art replace the human hand. Specifically from the
perspective of programming, artists Vera Molnar and Manfred Mohr have inspired Reas’ approach toward
building visual compositions. Also influenced by earlier artists and thinkers working within systemic
conceptual frameworks such as Euclid, Lissitzky, and Haacke, Reas focuses on relationships between
dynamic elements.
Perpetually elusive moments characterize Reas’ software installations. Process 14 uses the circle as a
primary form and Process 18 uses line. Both kinetic systems are displayed in the gallery as projections on
rectangular surfaces, and the picture plane of each is spilt in half vertically. At right, a two-dimensional
black and white linear structure reveals the behaviors applied to geometric elements. On the left half, the
same geometry creates warm three-dimensional textures.
P18 (Object 1) and P18 (Object 2) are topographical reliefs in resin created using a subtractive milling
technique. Articulating a spatial representation of Process 18, these works are algorithmically calculated
and translate value into a three-dimensional coordinate. Likewise, prints in the exhibition frame a discreet
two-dimensional moment from a system.
The images from Process 18 are depicted in grey scale, however the pictures from Process 14 integrate
color. Because hue is a complex value to define and holds subjective emotional content, Reas has chosen
to hand-select the mixing palette used for these images. Lush pinks and magentas of Reas' prints based
on Process 14 prints feel so highly charged that a visual kinship appears to exist with Modern abstract
painting. Reas’ drawing structures allow time-based execution of each instructed iteration to be performed
on open systems, instead of physically manipulated traditional plastic forms. Comparatively using software
as a vehicle, philosophic territory that has been historically dominated by oil and water-based media can
now be described inside an even wider aesthetic context.
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529 west 20th street bitforms.com 212 366 6939 info@bitforms.com
Projected from floor to ceiling, Reas Network software depicts the passage of information through organic
and technical environments. Suggesting the fundamental properties of any constellation- be they activities
in a star formation or that in peer to peer file sharing- nodes and the channels of connection are represented
with the minimalist visual language of lines and circles.
Other Exhibitions Featuring C.E.B. Reas
In New York March 6 – April 17, Reas’ work is featured in Impermanent Markings curated by Linda Lauro-
Lazin at the Pratt Manhattan Gallery, where there will an artist talk March 7. In Evanston, Illinois through
April 6, Reas’ work is part of two exhibits at the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art at Northwestern
University. In conjunction with Imaging by Numbers and Color Space Motion, Reas will lecture February 16
in the symposium “Patterns, Pixels, and Process: Discussing the History of the Computer Print”. In
Belgium, recent work will be featured April 18-30 at the IMAL Center in Brussels, concurrent with the
bitforms gallery display of Reas at ArtBrussels. In Texas through April 20, the Contemporary Arts Museum
Houston is exhibiting a selection of Process series prints in the touring National Design Triennale, organized
by the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. In Korea this September, Reas will be featured in the 5th
Seoul International Media Art Biennale.
About C.E.B. Reas
Based in Los Angeles, C.E.B. Reas (b. 1972, Troy, OH) has exhibited and screened his work internationally
in galleries and museums including P.S.1, New York; Institute for Contemporary Art, London; New Museum
for Contemporary Art, New York; Institute for Contemporary Art, Boston; Laboral, Gijon, Spain; Cooper-
Hewitt National Design Museum, New York; The Dallas Contemporary; Fabric Workshop and Museum,
Philadelphia; National Museum for Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo; Eyebeam, New York; CCCB,
Barcelona; STUK, Leuven; Daelim Museum, Seoul; NTT ICC, Tokyo; ZKM, Karlsruhe; bitforms gallery, New
York and Seoul; Telic, Los Angeles; TAG<>, The Hague; BANK, Los Angeles; the Danish Film Institute,
Copenhagen; and Kuenstlerhaus, Vienna; among other venues. Commissioned to create work for the
Whitney Museum's ArtPort collection online in 2004, Reas is also the recipient of a Golden Nica from Ars
Electronica.
Reas is an Associate Professor at UCLA, and holds a masters degree from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology in Media Arts and Sciences, where he studied in John Maeda’s Aesthetics and Computation
group. With Ben Fry, Reas initiated Processing.org in 2001. Processing is an open source programming
language and environment for creating images, animation, and interaction. In September 2007, they
published Processing: A Programming Handbook for Visual Designers and Artists, a 736 page
comprehensive introduction to programming within the context of visual media (MIT Press).
Opening Reception
bitforms gallery, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm, Thursday, March 6, 2008
Artist’s Talk
Pratt Manhattan Gallery, 6:00 pm, Friday, March 7, 2008
Free and open to the public. 144 West 14th Street, (212) 647-7778
bitforms gallery is devoted to emerging and established artists who embrace new media and
contemporary art practices.
Gallery Hours & Directions
Tuesday through Saturday, 11:00 am to 6:00 pm. Nearest subway is the C to 23rd St
Upcoming
In Belgium April 18 -21, bitforms gallery nyc will be featured at the ArtBrussels 26th Contemporary Art Fair.
In New York bitforms gallery will premiere new photographs and mixed-media installation from Lynn
Hershman Leeson’s new Found Object series April 26 – May 31.
Contact Information
press@bitforms.com
www.bitforms.com
529
west
20th
street
bitforms.com
212
366
6939
info@bitforms.com
