Art on the Plaza: Primal Graphics
Jim Campbell
February - October, 2002
The Ritz-Carlton New York, Battery Park
Photo © 2002 CharlieSamuels.com
In Primal Graphics, artist Jim Campbell's first public sculpture in New York City, shadowy figures moved across a screen, evoking themes of memory and loss. As one moved closer to the sculpture, the seemingly cinematic episode eroded into an abstract field of lights. The flicker of bare bulbs appeared somehow awkward, even obsolete, yet the audience was reminded that in a technologically sophisticated world, information is transmitted, shared, and manipulated through such pixels of light. The sculpture elegantly alluded to the transience of images, illusions of technology, and most importantly, the necessity to question what is seen.
Primal Graphics was a part of Art on the Plaza, a five-year series of sculptural commissions presented by Creative Time in partnership with Millenium Partners, The Ritz-Carlton New York, and the Battery Park City Authority.
