Process/Form · Casey Reas

bitforms gallery announces a third solo exhibition with artist C.E.B. Reas, opening March 6. The show features work from his Process series, including software installations, unique prints, and relief sculpture. These pieces, shown in the United States for the first time, are based on new visual systems: Process 14 and Process 18. A concurrent exhibition titled Ephemeral Markings runs at Pratt Manhattan Gallery, marking the New York debut of Reas' TI installation. 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 discrete 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. Reas' relationship to writing computer code resembles Sol LeWitt's authorship of instructions for wall drawings, but generative software procedures replace the human hand. From a programming perspective, artists Vera Molnar and Manfred Mohr have inspired Reas' approach toward building visual compositions. 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, with the picture plane of each split vertically in half. P18 (Object 1) and P18 (Object 2) are topographical reliefs in resin created using a subtractive milling technique. Projected from floor to ceiling, Reas Network software depicts the passage of information through organic and technical environments.

Works