GMUNK x MUSE Exhibition

November 2016 ––

San Francisco homie and collaborator Jonathan Rowe is renowned for putting on epic events at his beautiful space, The Village in South Market. In late November, for the inaugural event for his MUSE Branded Art Event, Munkowitz and Jonathan collaborated on quite the epic evening, mixing traditional fine art and large format print pieces with projection-mapped sculptures, interactive gestural experiences and large-scale video projections - transforming the event into a unique and diverse art extravaganza for the masses.

In addition to the Art Show, Jonathan also booked the great Rufus Du Sol to perform a special DJ set, which blasted the ticket sales up into the thousands - an excellent way to get all those eyeholes onto the artworks as they funneled all the attendees through the art show to get into the music venue. Perhaps the best part of the show is that the entirety of the proceeds were contributed to a philanthropic cause - specifically in support of the Dakota Access Pipeline Conflict, which unfortunately President Dump just overturned despite all the protests – it’s rough right now.  

The Signature piece of the show was the ‘Currents’ Lightform Sculpture created by the dream team of Mr. Munkowitz, Architect Lorenzo Vianello, Projection Mapping Wizard Philip Reyneri, his brilliant projection outfit Lightform and Motion Graphics Ace Peter Call Me The Clark. The concept behind the piece was to visualize Magnetic Fields within the medium of practical sculpture, essentially conceiving a series of line work reliefs as charges from the Positive to Negative poles.

This in effect created a highly organic, flowing set of dynamic curves generated by algorithms from the procedural software Grasshopper. The faces of the resulting geometry were ultimately dotted with small holes of varying sizes to complete the Morphological Hierarchy – a thorough study of flowing curves and dotted three-dimensional patterning. 

Currents

–– Lightform

This geometry was then assigned structure, relief and form, and was CNC Milled out of a Foam base material, creating a lush and highly detailed three-dimensional form. The sculpture was then hung as a two piece pair on the gallery walls, and projection mapped with a 5 minute motion graphic loop, which traced and filled all the dots and lines adorning the sculpture - creating a vibrant optical illusion of depth and movement.

A complimentary and quite moody 5 minute audio loop was then created by the Mister Master Enter Null and emitted out of an embedded speaker within the design, creating a rich sonic navigation that resonated throughout the space and encouraged an Audio/Visual interaction between the audience and the artwork.

Limited Edition Artworks

–– 03

A most excellent opportunity of an Art Exhibition is to frame and present a series of large-format print works, which has been a focus for Munky in 2016. So for the exhibition, teaming once again with his print partners at the estimable CinaArt.com, they produced a series of 16 Limited Edition Prints for the show - picking hero selects from the SubDivision and InfraMunk Tracy Arm Fjord series for a limited edition run.

These works were printed on Archival pigment print on premium ultra smooth 100% cotton rag paper and framed with white lacquered wood, mitered, and glued with a 1/2" Acid-free 100% cotton rag bright white mat board - overall they looked ultra-premium indeed. For more information about the works and the full collect, please do check out their in-depth project collects at the SubDivision Series and the InfraMunk vs Tracy Arm Fjord on the GMUNK master site.  

In addition to presenting his favorite print projects from 2016 upstairs in the gallery, Munko also decided to project a 6 minute cutdown of his select non-commercial work onto a few giant screens within the Madrone Studios facility. This edit, which is more a GMUNK Meditation Tape than a Demo Reel, sought to further examine the diversity of work in the portfolio - with delightful Music from the master Ben Lukas Boysen. From Live-Action Directorial work to play with Light Installations, Motion Graphics, Heavy Duty Post-Production and everything in between. If there’s something Mr Munkowitz is passionate about, it’s being incredibly diverse in the Mediums to keep the Inspirations nice n fresh - a topic he usually speaks about in detail on the Conference Circuit.

In addition to the two Munkowitz Projection Screens, the SF Homies Conor 'Bedtimes' Grebel and Jeff 'EccoScreen' Bryant also crafted incredible Interactive Wall projections for the show to round out the visual spectacle, giving the audience a chance to interact with live cameras and affect the resulting visuals on the rather large canvases. Bedtimes created a video-recursion effect using a live video-feed pumped into Touch Designer, which created a variety of echoing feedback tunnels from their silhouettes. Eccoscreen used a Kinect-Tracking setup to allow the attendees to drive a Unity-made refractive substrate with their gestures - basking in the delightful tastiness of a refractive underwater world filled with optical effects and texture.

The Collaborators

–– 05

One thing that has always been a key tenant of Munko’s body of work has been the spirit of collaboration. It has defined his diverse portfolio, and also his wide-range of Industry Love-Affairs. The Muse show was no different, as he collaborated with Madrone Studios owner Jonathan Rowe on the big-picture vision, which allowed Munkowitz to be the featured artist for the shows premiere event. In addition, Jonathan’s Madrone Studios staff were incredible throughout, and obviously without them none of this would’ve happened.

Also in collaboration for the shows content was his SF crew of Philip Reyneri and Peter Clark, who lent their talent and helped him conceive and produce the ‘Currents’ LightForm in partnership with the great Italian Architect Lorenzo Vianello. SF Homies Conor (Bedtimes) Grebel and Jeff (EccoScreen) Bryant also crafted incredible Interactive Wall projections for the show to round out the visual spectacle that was the 1st Edition MUSE Art Show. In retrospect, it was an incredible night of art, family, and friends - was definitely one of the career highlights thus far.

About MUSE

–– 06

MUSE, an acronym for Music Underground Social Experience, is a one-of-a-kind curated event series blending elements of live music, art, technology, and gourmet food, spread throughout three floors of The Village event space. Each event showcases intimate musical performances from both up-and-coming musicians and headlining sets from some of the most sought after artists in the world.

Utilizing The Village's 75 ft. projection wall and state-of-the-art projection technology throughout the venue, each MUSE event features several interactive art installations designed by local and international visual artists.

"MUSE is a way for us to use all of our venue and production capabilities to create unique event experiences that will redefine the way people party here in San Francisco and have a social impact at the same time," said Jon Rowe, CEO of Madrone Studios and The Village.

"Our goal is to create experiences that foster a sense of community - as each MUSE event will be more than just a concert or party, but rather a place where our members can explore, meet new people, and experience a variety of cultural elements while supporting philanthropic causes." 

Digital Artist, Photographer

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at GMUNK INCORPORATED
for MUSE SF