The Digital Canvas Reception
adsk.chris Sunday, May 8, 2011 at 03:34PM 
Last Thursday, May 5, 2011, the Autodesk Gallery hosted a private recpetion for the Digital Canvas exhibition. With over 100 guests, including contributing artists, guests and local media, the exhibit was unveiled in a highly intimate and social setting.
The Collection: Curated by Susan Murtaugh, the exhibit's aim was to celebrate the diversity and creativity of digital art.
"The 'day job' diversity of our 82 artists is astounding.", said Susan in her opening remarks, "Starting with a fourth grade student, university students and professors, a public health worker, lawyer, aerospace technician, general contractor, a farmer, a real estate broker, a couple of architects, a journalist, goldsmith, an obstetrician and surgeon. Not to mention professional illustrators, animators, designers and directors."
The audience was also given a special treat thanks to Jay Shuster, Art Director of Pixar, who shared his background story along with amazing behind the scenes details and concept sketches from the upcoming Cars 2 movie.
For us, as members of the SketchBook team, it was a huge honor to collaborate with and present the work of so many customers. That a quarter of the contributing artists attended the event made it particularly special for us. Not only did people fly in from different parts of the U.S., but Pinar Yalcin made the trip to San Francisco all the way from Istanbul, Turkey.
On behalf of the team, I would very much like to thank all the SketchBook users out there, but particular thanks to Susan and all the contributing artists that really made the Digital Canvas exhibit possible. -- Chris Cheung
The Digital Canvas will be open to the public starting May 11, 2011.
Autodesk Gallery at One Market
One Market, Floor 2
San Francisco, CA 94105
The Gallery is open to the public every Wednesday from 12-5 pm, with a guided tour from 12:30-1:30pm. Come by to check out the many exhibits, including the Digital Canvas.
Above: The arrangements for each wall highlighted contrasting artistic styles and themes.
Below: 1) Jay Shuster spending time chatting and signing books; 2) Timothy Reynolds exploring one of the technology exhibits in the Gallery.
Above: Artists meeting for the first time.
Below: 1) Massa (Azure) with husband, Brian, at the iPad display table; 2) Mia Robinson; 3) Geoffrey Smith, youngest contributor in the collection.
Above: 1) Goro Fujita; 2) Peter Jaret; 3) Sal Navarro enjoying a beverage at the 'after-reception reception' (Osha Thai, 4 Embarcadero Center)
Click here to download the PDF Show Guide, including profiles of all the Digital Canvas artists
For more photos from the reception, check out the Flickr group that has been created by the artists: http://www.flickr.com/groups/autodeskdigitalcanvas2011/
adsk.chris
Reader Comments (12)
This looks like an amazing exhibit. I'll have to swing by the next time I'm in S.F.
Absolutely amazing. Would love to see the exhibit in person. Must have been an awesome event!
Thanks for the reception! Very inspiring to see everyone's work!
Looks a brilliant venue for an incredible body of artwork, top kudos to Susan (& family), Chris and everyone else @ Autodesk. Great work and perhaps next time I'll get the chance to visit in person.
Hi, just wanted to thank all those involved in the exhibition, and in particular Susan, for her vision and energy! Although I couldn't make it this time, I hope to meet up with my fellow exhibitors in the future. Regards Jason (Bluejayway2011)
Loved the show, the reception and what a great speaker Jay was. Thank you, such difficult times for artists now, this was a gift. In retrospect, I wish we'd had the new, glorious, 2.0, just 1 day early so we could ask questions, compare drawings, etc. There were so many new things -wow- it is like an all new app.
Did I mention how beautiful the galleries looked?
Thank You!!!
The show was billed as “a celebration of the diversity and creativity of digital art,” and wow, was it diverse--from realistic portraits to inspired caricatures, from fantastic worlds rendered in astonishing detail to impressionist landscapes and still-lifes, from quick energetic sketches to highly-wrought realistic paintings. That diversity is a tribute to Susan Murtaugh’s embracing vision as a curator, of course. It's also a testament to digital painting programs like SketchBook, which have created new ways for artists to express themselves in the most individual and personal ways. The work was all produced digitally, but there was nothing particularly “digital” about it—no sense that the medium limited expression. There were as many styles and individual visions represented in the gallery as there were artists.
Favorites? Too many to list. Some of the paintings in the show were pieces I’d already come to know and admire in flickr groups. Most of them were just as impressive printed and framed—and some were even more effective. Sometimes you missed the special quality of light that a digital screen produces, but then you could wander over and check out the pieces on the iPads on display—a very nice touch. Everything in the show was a serious (or sometimes playful) attempt to capture a particular quality of light, an expression, a gesture, an imaginary world, an idea or emotion or memory rendered visually.
So the artwork was pretty terrific. And so were the artists. Amazing how many of them were painting on iPads and smartphones—artists who couldn’t seem to stop themselves from painting. There’s a physical pleasure to running a finger or stylus over glass and watching magic unfold. Also how generous the participants were in sharing ideas and techniques. When I asked Goro Fujita how he approached a new painting, he flipped open his iPad and gave me a step by step tutorial. Wow.
The show was a huge success, and the experience an unalloyed pleasure for all of us lucky enough to attend. I add my sincere thanks to Chris, Susan, and the fine crew at Autodesk.
It's so good to see and be part of aground breaking event. Thanks for all the pics and videos. Thanks especially to Susan and Chris and all who posted info and comments.
Love being connected with this medium, thanks to Autodesk. What's next? How abput the exhibition travelling. I am sure a lot of people would love to see it!!!
I think this might have been one of the most diverse and successful shows I've seen to date. The thing I found most interesting was, although the digital mediums used to produce the artwork was "sorta" intriguing to the guests, they seemed far more fascinated and interested in the art. The range of subject matter and styles represented in the show made it more about the artists and their WORK and what one is capable of achieving creatively when given the proper set of tools. This, to me, is a huge stride in the right direction and made me feel even more honored to be a part of the show.
I was blown away by the range of works I saw in this show. And they were laid out superbly...the works really flowed well together. I walked away very inspired by the artwork AND the conversations I was able to have with other artists. (and I have already put some new ideas and techniques to practice!)
All that to say, I am truly grateful for what this show brought to me personally. And i suspect, based on the conversations I had and from what I saw, that I'm not the only one. Lots of positive feedback about styles and methods. Digital approaches versus analog. Tools...and the new update definitely stirred up additional excitement as well. And heard more than one person say, "okay, that's it, I'm getting me an iPad!" :-)
Plus the food was FANTASTIC (still dreaming about the scallop ceviche! lol)
Kudos and much love to the Autodesk crew and Susan for putting on such a great event (in so very little time). It was really quite perfect. Yep...I said it..."PEERRRRRFECT."
This was an amazing event and I'm happy/fortunate/honored to be a part of it. Thanks so much to Susan, Chris and their teams to put it all together. Jay Shuster's behind the scenes Pixar presentation was an absolute treat that I'm sure not many people have been able to see.
Thanks again. I feel special.
Looks like a wonderful show - nice venue and well laid out too - I'd love to be able to see it.
Bonjour à tous
Super event, now is the time of the design computers outdoors, modern impressionism.
Discover also the works made with iPad, published in limited edition,
Exclusively by Ae-éditions.
I hope to move to the next group.
Patricio Villarroel - Head 35
Patricio Villarroel - Four Guys