Exhibition Recap: Pixels at OCCCA

The Pixels: The Art of the iPhone exhibition opened March 31, 2011 at the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art in Santa Ana, California. The opening celebration was this weekend.

The exhibit is an essential collection of works, curated from the thousands of images submitted to Pixels, featuring many of the most important iPhoneographers working today.

Pixels at OCCCA curators and iPhonographers Knox Bronson and Maia Panos

Pixels is a curated, extensive exhibit that’s an excellent snapshot of the current state of iPhoneography and features new and recent works from many iPhonegraphers, including Maia Panos, Reservoir_Dan (Dan Berman), Kimberly Post Rowe, Emily Rose, Jon Betts, Unruly_E, Alan Kastner, Christian Peacock, Max Berkowitz, Jose Chavarry, Laura Conomy, Linda Schenck, Susan Mikiel, Paul Moore, Jaime Ferreyros, and many, many other Pixels at an Exhibition artists.

The images range from minimally to extensively apped and include landscapes, portraits, street photography, nudes abstracts, surrealism — a broad range of styles, many times spanning several artistic styles. Art should touch the viewer on an emotional level and nearly all of the pieces in this collection inspire some reaction in the viewer.

Co-curator Jeff Alu’s display is gorgeous — very well lit, fluid and visually-based. It’s not theme based and is excellent curation which allows the viewer to explore each photograph on its own, rather than be taken in the context of a larger group.

The pieces selected for display are beautiful. Not only are the the works excellent samples of the art form, but the printing is rich and vivid with excellent detail and color.

The show is a journey. I found the exhibit to be a powerful one when viewed beginning to end. In addition to many familiar, high profile photographs included, there are also many undiscovered gems in this exhibit. I viewed the catalog of the exhibit before visiting the gallery, but seeing each photo on display gave me the same feeling as studying a piece of art from a book and then seeing it live for the first time live in a gallery.

I viewed the show with my uncle, a semi-professional photographer, who was blown away by both the art itself and the fact that they were created solely on an iPhone. For me, I’m glad I experienced this show with someone else to view, discuss and debate the works. The opening event took place during the area’s monthly art walk. Not only did this draw a lot of traffic, but exposed many arts supporters to artistic mobile phone phtography, in particular iPhone photography for the very first time.

Knox Bronson is tireless in his support of iPhoneography. His passionate work in encouraging Pixels artists to push the boundaries of the art help expand, improve and redefine iPhoneography. While the opening night event was a successful high traffic, high visibilty event, the bottom line is that Pixels at OCCCA isn’t about the hype — it’s about exposing the art of the iPhone to groups of new viewers.

Pixels at OCCCA is another important exhibit from Knox, who has an amazing and wonderful knack for putting together such important iPhone photography exhibits. Exhibits like this go far in legitimizing and cementing iPhoneography as an art form.

If you are in the Los Angeles area within the next month, do not miss this excellent exhibit at the OCCCA.

Orange County Center for Contemporary Art
117 N. Sycamore
Santa Ana, CA

Exhibit runs through April 28, 2011

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