“Computer art is the last stance of abstract art” - Jasia Reichardt, The computer in Art

“Every person has the right to find the right distance for himself. Move closer to view colours. Every person has the right to find the right height for himself. Wait for a certain time until your own brain rhythms are brought into phase with those of the machine”… - Brion Gysin

Leo Koenig Inc. is pleased to announce the opening of a solo exhibition of new paintings by Jeff Elrod. For this exhibition the artist has created a striking series of large scale and medium sized works that continue his exploration between the two worlds of digital anonymity and analog variation.

Jeff Elrod begins with a perfected process, which he terms “Frictionless Drawing.” The drawings are made with a computer mouse, which allows the hand to glide into a smooth detached aesthetic. For this exhibition, all the paintings have emanated from variations made to a single drawing file. Completely subverting the exactitude of digital technologies, the artist’s mark making initiates a randomness, which traverses the lines between chaos and repetition on the finished canvas. The negative field plays an important role in all of the paintings, as often, deleted information becomes the image.

These new works provide a visceral response that is heightened by a predominately black and white palette. Managing at once to be physically imposing and visually direct, the paintings still exhibit a sense of buoyancy. The works also hint at a wide range of influences that are outside the realm of formal abstraction. Punk graphics, “cut up” technique and obscure typography all make appearances in the paintings.

Jeff Elrod has exhibited extensively both in the U.S. and in Europe. His work has been included in exhibitions at such institutions as the Chinati Foundation, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Kunsthalle Berlin. Most recently his work has been seen in “The Incomplete” at the Chelsea Museum, NYC and “Beneath the Underdog” at Gagosian Gallery. Jeff Elrod will have a solo show at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth in 2009. He lives and works in Marfa Texas.