Tom R. Chambers is a visual artist, photographer, and digital art pioneer. He has been involved in digital/new media art and technology since 1997. His work explores digital manipulation re: Suprematism, Geometric Abstraction, Minimalism, Color Field, and other experimental techniques.
Chambers has exhibited his work extensively around the world and has been involved in a number of artist-in-residency programs. He has also taught and lectured on digital/new media art and technology. His work is recognized for its innovative use of digital techniques and its exploration of societal issues.
"Pixelscapes" is a term often used to describe a type of digital art that uses pixels, the smallest unit of a digital image. This term is also associated with Chambers' work. He creates series of artworks under this namesake, where he uses pixel manipulation techniques to create abstract, geometric compositions.
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DIGITAL SUPREMATISM - GEOMETRIC ABSTRACTION
During the early 2000s, Tom R. Chambers began to look at the pixel within the context of Suprematist and Geometric Abstractionist art. He equated the pixel with the works of non-objective artists like Wassily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich, Josef Albers, Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko, Ad Reinhardt, Piet Mondrian and others. They generated works to establish an abstract visual language of the sublime, pure color, geometric form, deep contemplation and metaphysical pursuit of the truth.
The pixels or "Pixelscapes" - as he calls them - conform with many of these non-objective artists' works. They are a revelation for him when compared to these non-objective works generated many years before the pixel and Digital Revolution. This body of work is derived from pixel configurations, and they stem from digitized reproductions of Kazimir Malevich's early works prior to his Suprematism and “Black Square”. They are magnified, filtered and precisely isolated to provide geometric abstractions within color-field settings. These "Pixelscapes" are brought to the forefront to celebrate Malevich's latent and ultimate creativity which gave way to Suprematism with the display of "Black Square" and other works in 1915 as part of the Last Futurist Exhibition of Paintings 0,10.
These pixel configurations are brought out large-scale. This method not only conjures up Suprematism, Geometric Abstraction, Minimalism and Color-field for consideration, but also calls forth emotions, feelings, and responses in the viewer. They have a geometrical advantage due to their inherent, quadrilateral formatting. In combination, they provide grids, planes and juxtapositions of color. And the color scheme is in situ (natural), because of the source image.
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Reviews/Comments
JD Jarvis, Art Critic/Artist and coauthor of Going Digital: The Practice and Vision of Digital Artists (ISBN 1-59200-918-2) (USA):
"Tom R. Chambers has been experimenting for several years with his series of 'Pixelscapes' exhibitions. Utilizing the most basic unit of any computer graphic, the single pixel, his 'Pixelscapes' serve as colorful pathways into the purely metaphysical aspects of art which, by virtue of presenting so little, leads the viewer to so much in terms of their own emotional content. This visual poetry contains the ironic connection between Modernist philosophy which moved visual art from figurative representational pictures of the physical world into an expressive and emotional world of abstraction; and the digital realm in which the purely abstract unit of one pixel off - one pixel on, has been utilized to reproduce once again, with breath taking accuracy the physical world. Now, Chambers has shown a path by which this tool, which so often serves hyper-reality, is forced to reveal the abstract soul at its very core."
One Month Gallery (OMG) curators, Moscow (Russia):
“Tom R. Chambers is a Texan with a Russian, Suprematist soul. He has repeatedly introduced the modern trend of new media art to the masses. He has brought Minimalism to the pixel. In 2000, Chambers began to look at the pixel in the context of Abstraction and Minimalism. And he is currently working with interpretations of Kazimir Malevich’s 'Black Square' and other Suprematist forms. His work calls our attention to visual singularity, which is all that we see in the digital universe. Since the pixel corresponds to what we call 'subatomic particles' in our physical universe, Chambers’ work connects us directly with the feeling of Russian Suprematism, described as the spirit that pervades everything, and pays tribute to the faith in the ability of abstraction to convey net feeling in the work.”
Andrey Martynov, Curator, Novosibirsk (Russia):
"Chambers' 'Pixelscapes' have been exhibited in Novosibirsk and also at the Solovetsky Monastery. He is working with the idea of a small unit or cell of an image, which shows a fantastical world through print. He will show 'My Dear Malevich' at the Fourth Novosibirsk International Festival of Digital Imaging at the Novosibirsk State Art Museum. It will be a pleasure for us to show this series that stems from the Suprematist traditions of the great Malevich. He was a remarkable artist of the 20th century who looked deeply into the philosophical content of images. Chambers uses this same philosophy in his long-term art projects such as 'Pixelscapes'. And what is especially pleasant is that he brings his understanding and knowledge to art students."
Shankar Barua, Artist/Musician/Writer/Designer (Founder and Managing Trustee for The Academy of Electronic Arts, creator of "The Idea" and Director of The Carnival of e-Creativity & Change-agents Conclave) (India):
"As an old believer in the singular importance of Tom R. Chambers' creative explorations with regard to driving a leading-edge stream of evolution of the digital-still-image-as-art into this new millennium, I am absolutely delighted to see him work with his 'Pixelscapes'. In this rising new era of burgeoning empowerment of individuals by technology across all streams of human endeavour, all over the world, when the more popular leading-edges of many creative streams are often about little more than fascination and infatuation with the shiny new baubles of new mediums in themselves, it is important to so manifest and be reminded that high art should certainly derive from, and serve, much deeper folds in the brains of any individual, community and generation."
Michael Takeo Magruder, New Media Artist and Researcher, King's Visualisation Lab, King's College London, London (England):
"I very much enjoy the critical, analytical and aesthetic nature of the artwork. Much of my own work is an exploration of the digitally minimal and the fundamental structures that comprise media technology - so I feel well-placed to understand and comment on Chambers' concerns in this area. I feel that many contemporary artists working in New Media utilise the pixel without understanding its core essence in terms of both technology that creates it and the connections it has to the art historical past. I find the premise of the work is a relevant extension of the Suprematism and Minimalism art movements of the 20th century, in which Chambers revisits critical explorations from the past and augments his investigations with present day technologies and context."
Harold Olejarz, Artist and Art Educator (Eisenhower Middle School; U.S. Department of Education National Blue Ribbon School) (USA):
"At the beginning of the 20th century Kazimir Malevich was at the forefront of a revolution in art. His work took chances and explored new directions in representation. Malevich was an experimenter, pushing art to the edges. Today, at the beginning of the 21st Century, Tom R. Chambers' work bridges 100 years of art history and creates connections between his own ground-breaking work as a digital artist and the ground-breaking work of Malevich. Chambers' 'Pixelscapes' explore issues of digital representation as well as refer back to the seminal dialog about representation that Malevich and his contemporaries initiated. Look beneath the elegant simplicity of the art of Malevich and Chambers and you will find the essential building blocks of art. Look closely at Chambers' images and you will find the building blocks of today's digital revolution."
Bruce Hanks, Manager, University of Winnipeg Instructional Network, Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology (CDDL), The University of Winnipeg (Canada):
"In 2000 Tom R. Chambers began his ongoing exploration under the namesake of 'Pixelscapes' (a pixel [picture element]) being a single point in a graphic image, an abstract sample.). In his article 'The pixel as Minimalist Art', reference is made to Malevich's 'Black Square' and 'Black Cross'. Chambers removes the pixel from the screen and places it on a gallery wall as large digital images, a transfer that becomes an all at once opportunity to see the totality of the work. To enter a space and see larger than life pixels displayed one after the other in all their complex diversity allows for a truly meditative experience. The pixels become a vast universe of the non-objective."
Wu Nan, Art Professor, Fine Arts Department, Zhaoqing University (China):
"Tom R. Chambers is a blend of the West and the East ... frank and charming with a disposition of an Eastern writer ... and this combination seems consistent when viewing his 'Pixelscapes', which are full of humanity, morality and caring. His creative work has a very different connotation: bright and fashionable within a multi-colored grid or graph. The meaning is manifested within a Western world's characteristics of materialism, public display and desire with curious, affective tonal range and realm of imagination ... it's beckoning. Chambers seems to want to elucidate a subject ... make a significant attempt at clarifying a notion. His appreciation of Kazimir Malevich's Suprematist artwork is only a way or an excuse to present an artistic trend through iconography that borders on 'religion'. The 'Pixelscapes' that comprise the project represent a collective expression. It is direct and effective, which is the most obvious characteristic of contemporary art."
Don Archer, Director, Museum Of Computer Art (MOCA) (USA):
"Tom R. Chambers has been an iconoclastic digital artist and passionate teacher of digital art for many years. He was visiting lecturer on digital and new media art and digital photography in the Fine Arts Department of Zhaoqing University in Zhaoqing, China. His own art is a celebration of digital abstraction and reductionism in a long series of works that he calls 'Pixelscapes'. His series called 'My Dear Malevich' is a tribute to the celebrated Ukranian-born artist Kazimir Malevich (1878-1935) who was founder of Suprematism, a non-representational art that featured geometric forms and shapes. These images are a confirmation of Chambers' dedication to minimalist art and to the pixel, in all its potential and limitations."
Bill Spencer, Director of Technology, Nocona Independent School District, Nocona, Texas (Chambers' hometown.) (USA):
"The work is very interesting to say the least. I am a biologist by training, and I compare the pixel to a living cell. Alas, but even the cell and pixel have even smaller components to consider. I do not know much about Minimalism, but I am interested in finding the basic unit of thought, learning, intelligence, and personality. Where the realm of thought intersects with the laws of physics that govern this plane of existence may hold the answers to the nature of human experience including art appreciation and other high levels of thinking."
Allan Revich, Artist and Director of Digital Salon (USA):
"Tom R. Chambers is blessed with an uncanny ability to marry high concept with visual beauty. He demonstrates his ability to do so with his 'Pixelscapes', where he riffs on the work of the Suprematist artist, Kazimir Malevich, to create wonderfully intriguing art pieces. Chambers' 'Pixelscapes' merge the analog and digital worlds, and the past with the present to create a new kind of imagery that brings wall-based visual art into the 21st century. His work is interesting to think about, and pleasant to look at. What more can we ask for from the art on our walls?"
Istvan Horkay, Artist (Collaborated with Peter Greenaway [film director] on the "Tulse Luper" film series.) (Hungary):
"Chambers' art epitomizes the double meaning of the word, fragment, an incised part of something already in existence ... and just because of this incision ... is an injury to the finished surface, to the tangle of writing or a finished picture. It is the same and not the same at the same time. Once the signs are scars, then the wounds will tell tales of some non-alleviated history. The post-human art of our era has moved the farthest away from the ideal which reached the calmness of total emptiness by putting instincts to silence ... consequently, Chambers' Pixelcapes."
Harvey J. Bott, Sculptor/Assemblist (DoV concept) (USA):
"Tom R. Chambers' oeuvre stratagem is an investiture of nearly ineffable wonder that says virtual past-present-future brought to the e-world and now the reality of tangible documentation in a venue that Malevich would have been proud to share with you."
Laurence Gartel (He is considered the "father of the digital art movement", and he has been a pioneer in this field for over 40 years.) (USA):
"What can be said about these 'Pixelscapes'? They're beautiful ... DYNAMIC. Like Josef Albers except this work is lyrical. I really like the evolution of the square. It's a movement that reminds me of my movement. I also like the squares that surround Chambers in a portrait. Does this mean that the artist is the original square? The artist turns into color? Or is it so that the artist turns into art?"
Chambers began to study various images at the pixel level via Photoshop (GIMP) in 2000 to scrutinize their configurations and color schemes:
J.D. Jarvis (Art Critic) states:
"In terms of Minimalism, Chambers' works seem almost elaborate, with strong patterns emerging from the basic structure that is the single pixel. Taken to the next extreme would be a sculptural arrangement of individual squares (pixels) of a single color. As if pixels have liberated themselves, through magnification, from any other context and are now present as individual entities in non-virtual space."
Chambers' next generation of "Pixelscapes" is in keeping with Kazimir Malevich's works of 110 years ago under the namesake of Suprematism. He (Chambers) feels that there's no need to look any further than the pixel because it doesn't pretend to be anything else other than what it is - truth. This most basic component of any computer graphic, which stands for picture element, corresponds to the smallest thing that can be drawn on a computer screen. It's also mathematical in the sense that it can be represented by 1 bit, a 1 if the pixel is black, or a 0 if the pixel is white. So Malevich, the Russian Suprematist whose work was a precursor to Minimalism, and those Minimalists who followed later would probably have had great appreciation for this basic and mathematical component - the pixel.
Chambers' next work with the pixel ... under the namesake of The Primordial Pixel ... focuses on the glitched portions of images that are then magnified:
These "Pixelscapes" are similar to Color Field painting that emerged in New York City during the 1940s and 1950s. This movement places less emphasis on gesture, brushstrokes and action in favor of an overall consistency of form and process. In Color Field painting, color is freed from objective context, and it becomes the subject in itself ("Themes in American Art: Abstraction." National Gallery of Art, Web, May 9, 2010).
Color Field painting emerged out of the attempts of several artists to devise a modern, mythic art. Seeking to connect with the primordial emotions locked in ancient myths, rather than the symbols themselves, they sought a new style that would do away with any suggestion of illustration (theartstory.org/movement-color-field-painting). Jackson Pollock, Adolph Gottlieb, Hans Hofmann, Barnett Newman, Clyfford Still, Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell, Ad Reinhardt and Arshile Gorky (in his last works) are among the prominent abstract expressionist painters identified as being connected to Color Field painting in the 1950s and 1960s ("Smithsonian Museum Exhibits Color Field Painting", December 7, 2008).
By the late 1950s and early 1960s, young artists began to break away stylistically from Abstract Expressionism experimenting with new ways of making pictures and new ways of handling paint and color. In the early 1960s, several and various new movements in abstract painting were related to each other. Some of the new styles and movements that appeared in the early 1960s as responses to Abstract Expressionism were called: Washington Color School, Hard-edge painting, Geometric Abstraction, Minimalism, and Color Field ("Smithsonian Museum Exhibits Color Field Painting", December 7, 2008).
Exhibitions:
“Pixelscapes”, IDAA 2005 (group show) (Juror invitation), QUT Art Museum, Brisbane, Australia, July - August, 2005.
“Pixelscapes”, Art and Music 2005 (group show), Coves de Canelobre (Caves of Candalabra), Busot, Spain, August 19 - 21, 2005.
“Pixelscapes”, IDAA 2005 (group show) (Juror invitation), VCA Gallery, Victorian College of the Arts, Southbank Victoria, Australia, June - July, 2005.
“Pixelscapes”, aniGma-2, The 2d Novosibirsk International Festival of Digital Imaging & Animation (group show), Novosibirsk State Art Museum, Novosibirsk, Russia, April - May, 2005.
“Pixelscapes”, IDAA 2005 (group show) (Juror invitation), The Academy Gallery, University of Tasmania, Inveresk, Australia, March - April, 2005.
“Pixelscapes”, IDAA 2004 (group show) (Juror invitation), VCA Gallery, Victorian College of the Arts, Southbank Victoria, Australia, August - September, 2004.
“Pixelscapes”, IDAA 2004 (group show) (Juror invitation), QUT Art Museum, Brisbane, Australia, June 4 - August 15, 2004.
“Pixelscapes”, IDAA 2004 (group show) (Juror invitation), The Academy Gallery, University of Tasmania, Inveresk, Australia, April-May, 2004.
“Pixelscapes”, Museum of Computer Art (MOCA) (solo show), March, 2004.
“Pixelscapes”, “InterGraphic” (group show), Bishkek International Exhibition of Graphic Art, State Museum of Fine Arts, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, February 27 - March 6, 2004.
“Pixelscapes”, “IDAA 2003” (group show) (Juror invitation), VCA Gallery, Victorian College of the Arts, Southbank Victoria, Australia, December, 2003.
“Pixelscapes”, International Festival of Digital Imaging & Animation (group show), Novosibirsk, Russia, October 18 - 19, 2003.
“Pixelscapes”, Third Novosibirsk International Contemporary Graphic Biennial 2003 (group show), State Picture Gallery, Novosibirsk, Russia, September - November, 2003.
“Pixelscapes”, “Art Is Everywhere” (group show), Boston Cyberarts Festival, Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University, Boston, Massachusetts, April 26 - May 10, 2003.
“Pixelscapes”, Digital Content Consortium (DCC) Conference (featured artist; solo show) University of North Carolina-Pembroke, March 28-29, with the exhibition to continue at the UNC Art Department/Media Integration Project through May 15, 2003.
“Pixelscapes”, IDAA 2003 (group show) (Juror invitation), The Academy Gallery, University of Tasmania, Australia, March-April, 2003.
“Pixelscapes”, Museum of Contemporary Art (solo show), Solovki (Solovetskie Ostrova/Solovetskie Islands, White Sea), Russia, Summer, 2002.
“Pixelscapes”, ArCade-III in Russia (group show) (an international exhibition of computer generated prints), Novosibirsk, Russia (curated by Sue Gollifer, University of Brighton and the London Institute, UK and by Andrey Martynov, LeVall Art Gallery, Novosibirsk, Russia), July 18 - 31, 2002.
“Pixelscapes”, LeVall Art Gallery (solo show), Novosibirsk, Russia, April 4-17, 2002.
Bio Extended:
Tom R. Chambers is a visual artist (digital/new media and mixed media), documentary photographer, curator and educator with over 100 personal exhibitions worldwide. He has also curated numerous exhibitions in the U.S.A., Zimbabwe, China and India.
He is currently working with the pixel as Suprematist and Geometric Abstractionist Art, and Kazimir Malevich’s “Black Square”. His "My Dear Malevich" project has received international acclaim, and it was shown as a part of “Suprematism Infinity: Reflections, Interpretations, Explorations”, Atrium Gallery, Harriman Institute, Columbia University, New York City, New York (December 1, 2015 - January 22, 2016) and in conjunction with the "100 Years of Suprematism" conference, Shapiro Center, Columbia University, New York City (December 11 - 12, 2015) (Organized in celebration of the centenary of Kazimir Malevich’s invention of Suprematism and the first public display of his Suprematist paintings in December, 1915.).
Chambers is participating in an online artist residency with St. Petersburg Art Residency (Russia) re: his work with Suprematism and Kazimir Malevich's "Black Square".
"DSGA 75" from his "Digital Suprematism - Geometric Abstraction" project was shown in the exhibition, "Sciarsism" in Minsk, Belarus. Opening: February 22, 2024.
He was invited to give his “Fifty Years Ago at the Lunar Receiving Laboratory” (research analyst during Project Apollo) presentation as part of the "Stardust Festival" in Cochrane, Ontario, Canada (August 1-6, 2022).
His "Analog, Appropriation, Digital - Repurposing of the Analog via the Pixel" presentation was delivered as part of "Within the Frame: Continuum of the Still Image", SPARKS/DAC/SIGGRAPH, December 3, 2021 (Moderated by Dena Eber and Sue Gollifer.). The 10th SPARKS session welcomed the presentation of artworks and projects that represented the continuum of image making and that revealed the essential ways that digital tools have moved it forward.
He conducted two (June 5 and October 9, 2021) street photography workshops at the Precision Camera Education Center, Austin, Texas. Both workshops culminated in exhibitions at the Artworks Gallery in the city.
Chambers' "Black Square TransFORMations", "Black Square Embellished" and "The Pixel as Suprematist and Minimalist Art" projects were presented as book presentations at the "Second Russian Congress on Color", The International Conference of the Color Society of Russia, Smolensk, Russia (December 1-5, 2020).
He was invited to give his “Fifty Years Ago at the Lunar Receiving Laboratory” (research analyst during Project Apollo) presentation as part of the "Apollopalooza" event (Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Celebration [1969-2019]), Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum, Denver, Colorado. He also gave the same presentation and a "NASA/School" presentation to teachers, and he conducted an Apollo Space Summer Camp for students (8-12 years old).
His video, "Black Square Desecration" ("Black Square Interpretations") was officially selected for viewing as part of Experimental Animation and Video Art Program, LINOLEUM International Contemporary Animation and Media-Art Festival, Ukraine (September 28 - October 1, 2017).
His tribute piece, “Mattie Oline: Thoughts of a Grandmother” was exhibited at the Tales and Trails Museum, Nocona, Texas (2017). Chambers’ grandmother kept a diary from 1948 through part of 1993. He researched her entries over the years, and chose the ones that have significance for him and society. The project conjures up emotions in a collective sense that touches all families - all grandmothers. It can be treated as textual art evidenced by the actual entries made by Chambers' grandmother. Her script through the years morphs/evolves, and it draws the viewer in because of its personal nature and sense of immediacy - setting up an intimate connection with this woman who once put pen to paper.
He returned to Providence, Rhode Island in 2016 to exhibit a sampling of his coverage as Mayoral and City Photographer for Providence, 1985-1990. The project, “Retro Providence: 1985-1990” is similar to the "Hot City" project that Chambers put together when he worked for the City of Providence in 1989. At that time, American Photographer magazine listed the exhibition in its "Notable Exhibitions" section in their July 1989 issue. These photographs/prints and all negatives that Chambers made during his tenure are part of the Providence City Archives as the "Tom R. Chambers Collection".
Chambers curated the two-person (him and Max Semakov [Moscow, Russia]) exhibition, “Black Square Interpretations and Other Suprematist Explorations”, which was shown at the CaviArt Gallery, Russian Cultural Center, Houston, Texas (March 6 - April 7, 2015). A portion of this exhibition was also shown as a part of “Post Scriptum 100 + 8”, OMG Gallery, Moscow, Russia (June 8 - July 8, 2015) (Chambers came together with seven Russian artists in Moscow to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Suprematism [1915-2015].)
He taught Technology Applications (STEM/STEAM, broadcasting, photography, video/audio editing, web design, digital art, layout/design production) for middle school students at Raul Yazguirre School for Success (Hispanic charter), Houston, Texas (2007-2013). Chambers put together and advised a “students teaching students” program in which his students taught students at other school districts to use hardware and software to generate digital art as it related to core subject areas.
He was Visiting Lecturer in digital/new media art for the Fine Arts Department, Zhaoqing University, Zhaoqing, China (2005 – 2007). He joined the department to develop and teach a digital/new media art program. He and his students collaborated with Beijing Film Academy (Beijing, China), Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University (Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.), Maine College of Art (Portland, Maine, U.S.A.), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, New York, U.S.A.), National Chengchi University (Taipei, Taiwan), Wake Forest University (Winston-Salem, North Carolina, U.S.A.) and University of Louisville (Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.A.) in joint student projects/exhibitions, off- and on-line.
He collaborated with Zhao Zhenhai, a Chinese documentary photographer, by putting together a two-person show, "Zhao/Chambers Joint Photo Exhibition". Zhao's photos cover the past twenty years throughout China, and Chambers' photos are from 2004 under the namesake of "The People of Longhu Town, China". This was the first time in Henan Province, China for a Chinese and American photographer to come together to offer an East/West perspective on the Chinese People and Culture. The project was exhibited at the Yellow River College of Technology and Sheng Da College, Zhengzhou, China (2004 and 2005).
Chambers was invited by the National Institute of Design (NID) in Ahmedabad, India to conduct a three-week, new media art workshop for its new media design graduate students. The workshop culminated in the exhibition, “NMA@NID” (2006) (The no-constraints workshop encouraged self-expression through computer technology within a fine arts context. Chambers also documented the streets of Ahmedabad titled “Ahmedabad, India”.
He was Executive Committee Member and Juror for the International Digital Art Awards (IDAA) (2003-2005) (based in Australia). He was instrumental in expanding the content of the IDAA to include new media art, and he served as online New Media Director (2004-2005). He was also instrumental in helping to bring the 2005 IDAA Exhibition to Beijing, China under the auspices of the Beijing Film Academy. He was also invited by the Fine Arts Department, New Media Art, Beijing Film Academy, Beijing, China to give a retrospective lecture, “Dyer Street Portraiture to Pixelscapes” (April 8, 2005).
He collaborated with Choi Ok-soo, a South Korean documentary photographer, by putting together a two-person exhibition, "People to People" for the Kumho Art Center, Gwangju, South Korea (1997). This was the first time in Gwangju for a Korean and American photographer to come together to offer an East/West perspective on the Korean People and Culture. The project resides as part of the center's Permanent Collection.
Chambers founded Focus Gallery in 1997, one of the first digital art galleries on the Internet.
Chambers completed a three-year tour as a United States Peace Corps Volunteer in the Arts (curator/archivist and initiator/instructor [“The McEwen Photographic Studio”]) for the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe (1993-1995). He was instrumental in writing grant proposals and receiving funding (Social Science Research Council, New York City) to computerize the gallery’s Permanent Collection information. He also curated numerous exhibitions from the Permanent Collection.
He was invited by the National Gallery of Zimbabwe to exhibit “Variations on the Dan Mask” (Chambers used an African Traditional mask from the Dan Tribe in Eastern Liberia [a piece from the Permanent Collection: PC - 6400 – 0147] as the object for the photogram, then manipulated the non-exposed area generated from this original mask form to vary the look.) (December 1995; officially opened by the U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe).
While in Zimbabwe, he also received a U.S. Government Grant via the United States Information Service (USIS), Harare to exhibit “Southwest Of Rusape: The Mucharambeyi Connection” at the USIS Gallery (June-July 1995; officially opened by the U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe; and accepted as a part of the USIS Archives Permanent Collection).
Chambers' tribute piece (mixed media/interactive work), “Mother's 45s” was selected through national search for exhibition as a part of the “Parents” show at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio (catalogue #: ISBN #0-932706-20-7) (1992). This work was also shown at Gallery One, Providence, Rhode Island (1990). He matched his mother's 45rpm records with the family photographs to create assemblages by using the hole spaces of the records to frame the images. He eventually arrived at a satisfactory combination, incorporating forty-five 45rpm records with images and a portion of each song onto an audio cassette to be used as a part of the exhibition. He faded-in/faded-out the songs, and looped them for continuous play and in order with the wall display of the photo/record assemblages. The photographs of his mother were sequenced according to the chronology of her life, which spanned almost 60 years. When the piece is viewed along with the songs, the sound stimulus pulls the viewer from record to record (1-45).
American Photographer magazine listed one of his documentary projects, “Dyer Street Portraiture” in the Notable Exhibitions section of its March, 1986 issue ("The black-and-white images record a diversity of common people in an urban habitat with an ambiance of film noir."). A reviewer states, “I Believe my preference is your masterfully delivered jab of enlightenment. Perhaps with a slight upper cut (a short swing blow from beneath to the opponents chin) - your portraiture article helped me to condense and to fine tune my portrait style into - in your face - defined more precisely as close up and personal.”
Chambers founded and directed a not-for-profit, photographic arts organization and gallery, “Viewpoint”, Lubbock, Texas (American Photographer magazine reviewed one of the exhibitions at the gallery in its April, 1983 issue) (1982-1983). He also founded and directed a not-for-profit, photographic arts organization, “Photoreach”, Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.A. (1990).
His documentary project, “Descendants 350” was shown throughout Rhode Island, and accepted by the Secretary of State (Rhode Island) as a part of the Rhode Island State Archives Permanent Collection (1990). The project received a Governor's (Rhode Island) Proclamation. This photo album of Descendants of many of the First Settlers of Rhode Island pays tribute to the trials and tribulations that their Ancestors were subjected to during the early to middle 1600s. It offers a unique look and study of the State's early history as it relates to images of Descendants (contemporaries) as icons or symbols to pay tribute to and talk about their Ancestors' (First Settlers') contributions through text extracted from The Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island (and other sources).
Chambers was listed (1984-1991) in the Artists-In-Education roster with the Rhode Island State Council for the Arts (RISCA), and he served as an advisory panelist for RISCA to determine funding for residency programs. He also served as an advisory panelist for the State of Connecticut Commission on the Arts to determine funding for residency programs.
He provided photo documentation of city life and politics (Executive Office of the Mayor, Providence, Rhode Island). He also provided photo documentation for the Rhode Island Delegation at the Democratic National Convention, Atlanta, Georgia (1988), which culminated in the exhibition, “Hot City”.
Chambers conducted Polaroid workshops for at-risk, inner-city youth in Providence, Rhode Island for Metro Arts, and served as an advisory panelist for the organization (1986-1990). He also produced and directed visual arts/performance arts presentations, “VP90” (“Release”) and “CYSX2” as a part of First Night Providence, Providence, Rhode Island (1989-1991).
He worked with Harvey J. Bott (Loft on Strand) to document his sculpture and assemblages. He also had a two-person show with Bott providing his (Chambers’) perspective on the sculptor’s Fetal Form series, “Tom Chambers Looks at H.J. Bott”, Rosenberg Library, Galveston, Texas (1974).
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Suprematism is an art movement focused on fundamental geometric forms (in particular the square and circle) which originated in Russia around 1913. It was founded by Kazimir Malevich, one of the most famous artists of the 20th century. Suprematism is considered one of the precursors of abstract art. The movement was named by Malevich from the term "supremacy of pure artistic feeling". In Suprematism, the visual phenomena of the objective world are considered to be unnecessary, and the focus is instead on basic geometric shapes painted in a limited range of colors. The movement had a significant impact on contemporary art, graphic design, and architecture. The most famous work of Suprematism is "Black Square" by Malevich.
Kazimir Malevich was a Russian avant-garde artist and art theorist, whose pioneering work and writing had a profound influence on the development of non-objective, or abstract art, in the 20th century. Born in 1879, Malevich is best known for his work in the Suprematist movement, a style of abstract painting focused on basic geometric forms, such as circles, squares, lines, and rectangles, painted in a limited range of colors. His most famous work, "Black Square" (1915), is widely considered one of the most important precursors of abstract art. The painting features a black square on a white field and represents the most radically abstract painting known to have been created so far. Malevich described his aesthetic theory, known as Suprematism, as "the supremacy of pure feeling or perception in the pictorial arts." He passed away in 1935, but his influence continues to be felt in the art world today.
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Digital Suprematism is a modern interpretation of the Suprematist movement, which was a Russian abstract art movement developed by Kazimir Malevich in the early 20th century. The term "Suprematism" refers to an abstract art based upon “the supremacy of pure artistic feeling” rather than on visual depiction of objects. In the context of "Digital Suprematism", it refers to the application of these Suprematist principles in the digital art realm. Artists use geometric shapes, often in very basic colors or black and white, to create non-objective, non-representational art in a digital medium. This can be done using various digital tools and platforms, including graphic design software, digital painting, or even coding.
Geometric abstraction is a form of abstract art based on the use of geometric forms sometimes, but not always, placed in non-illusionistic space and combined into non-objective (non-representational) compositions. This art style was developed in the early 20th century, with key contributions from artists like Kazimir Malevich, Piet Mondrian, and Wassily Kandinsky. In geometric abstraction, the artwork is often minimalistic, emphasizing the simplicity of pure geometric shapes and forms such as squares, circles, lines, rectangles, and triangles. The colors used are often bold and bright. This style of art is often associated with movements like Constructivism, Suprematism, and De Stijl. It continues to influence many contemporary artists today.
A pixel, short for "picture element," is the smallest unit of a digital image or display that can be controlled. Pixels are often represented as tiny squares, and each one is coded with a specific color. When viewed together, these pixels form an image. The number of pixels in an image or display determines its resolution. For example, a "1080p" display contains 1080 rows of pixels vertically. The term "pixel" is used in digital imaging, computer graphics, and display technology.