
Among the more obviously digitally inspired works are Anne Vieux's prismatic paintings that evoke rainbow-hued mirror mazes or cosmic views of deep space in a holographic universe. Rendered on odd materials like faux-suede, works like Eclipse, above left, create their own reality through their lyrically fluid depth. Amy Ellingson's large pop abstractions recall Jean Dubuffet's modernist blob-like canvases but are actually based on manipulated digital files, just as Morgan Blair's compositions recall surreal 1970s “pattern and design” paintings, but were digitally distilled from YouTube face paint and Claymation tutorials. Rachel Beach and Alyse Rosner are both inspired by wood, but Beach's abstract sculptures suggest sleekly mysterious machine parts painted in designer colors like trendy wrapping paper, whereas Rosner's paintings like Bittersweet, above, suggest the patterning of wood grain and the growth rings of trees as metaphors for the densely encoded layers of digital imaging techniques. Conversely, Brittany Nelson's darkly ethereal wall panels, for instance Mordancage 4, above left, look futuristic but are really products of modified 19th century photographic chemistry. Barbara Takanaga's “Zen surrealist” paintings like Darlingtonia, top, are so convincingly cosmic that they suggest light vector technology, but were crafted quite traditionally, via paint meticulously applied with brushes. As she puts it: “I just sit... and wait for them to tell me what to do” as they “naturally gravitate to some kind of explosive/implosive situation.” ~Bookhardt / Unfamiliar Again: Contemporary Women Abstractionists, Through Dec. 23, Newcomb Art Museum, Tulane University, 865-5328.