Weekend Showcase: Digital Images at Robbin Gallery
Have you ever looked at a photograph and said, “How did they do that?”
“It’s actually the entire picture that’s been manipulated. So I take that digital file and just move it into the programs that I’m going to work with,” said John Niemi. His one man show at the Robbin Gallery is titled, “Horizons Landscapes, Butterflies.”
What Niemi does with digital imaging is mind-blowing.
“And then begin manipulating it, cutting it apart, sticking it back together again, stretching it and massaging it,” said Niemi.
The images and patterns are wildly abstract. The theme of many of his works came from observing those little winged insects of summer in his backyard garden.
“So I got to thinking about, you know, I wonder if I could make butterflies, and see if I can’t capture that sense of wonder of that butterfly fluttering around and looking at it in different ways,” Niemi said.
John’s been digitally manipulating images for about ten years and his techniques have evolved along with the technology.
“And then I began to think about how would Monet do a butterfly, or how would Picasso do a butterfly, or Paul Clay? And I began to try to interpret the butterfly.”
The images feature bold colors and deeply saturated hues. Looking ahead, John is thinking that bigger is better.
“I’d like to take some of these things and go 30 by 40, 60 by 90. I’d like to get them scaled up. The detail that’s in there in terms of a pixel you can’t see, to a pixel that you can just kinda see, to a pixel that knocks you over,” said Niemi.
Horizons Landscapes Butterflies will be on display in the Robbin Gallery through May 26th.
