Billow I & III by Daniel Canogar at Interreality
“Interreality” an expansive art exhibition bridging the traditional and digital art worlds through the presentation of works by 35 international artists that span the physical-to-digital spectrum, features two works by Spanish artist Daniel Canogar.
The 35-artist group exhibition in a 15,000-square foot space at Desmond Tower in Los Angeles examines how the physical and digital, once perceived as separate realities, have in fact always been and will continue to be entangled. Curated by artist and former Night Gallery co-owner Mieke Marple, Interreality bridges the traditional and digital art worlds through the presentation of works that span the spectrum.
Interreality features two artistic pieces –Billow I and Billow III– by Spanish visual and media artist Daniel Canogar that are part of the larger installation, Billow (2020).
About Billow
Billow consists of a series of six sculptural LED screens that depict abstract animations created with real-time data from Google platforms, including Search interests, Knowledge Graph topics, trending YouTube videos and Google News articles compiled from hundreds of newspapers and publications.
Colors within the animation are determined by how “hot” or popular a specific topic becomes; the more viral the search is online, the warmer the tones become. Popular queries from each day appear momentarily as overlaid text before dissolving into a smoky abstraction. Their lingering forms generate illusions of interlaced imagery.
The data-sphere is a driving force of society and the economy, despite its invisible nature. This lack of visibility can make it difficult to comprehend how information affects daily life. Billow attempts to expose the hidden threads of data networks.
This series continues the artist’s interest in the similitude between screens and textiles. Canogar plays with the idea of threads and knotted string by exposing electric data cables underneath the LED panels. Another defining element of the artist’s recent work is the curving, architectural intersections of his sculptures. Rolling silhouettes of technological streams emulate the natural world of rivers, hills, and valleys. Canogar presents sculptures of the incorporeal electronic realm in the hopes of better understanding the rhythms of our digital times.
About Daniel Canogar
Born to a Spanish father and an American mother, Daniel Canogar was born in 1964, Madrid, Spain, and now lives and works in Madrid. He received a Masters degree from New York University in 1990, but soon after shifted his interest toward projected image, installations, and public art.
Canogar’s public artworks include Constellations, the largest photo-mosaic in Europe created for two pedestrian bridges at MRío Park (Madrid, 2010), and Asalto, a series of video-projections presented on various emblematic monuments, including the Arcos de Lapa (Rio de Janeiro, 2009), the Puerta de Alcalá (Madrid, 2009); the church of San Pietro in Montorio (Rome, 2009), and Storming Times Square in Times Square (New York, NY, 2014).
He has exhibited at Reina Sofia Contemporary Art Museum, Madrid; Wexner Center for the Arts, Ohio; Borusan Contemporary Museum, Istanbul; American Museum of Natural History, New York; Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; and Palacio Velázquez, Madrid, among others.