Leading up to 2020, the work of the five artists featured in this exhibition was firmly rooted in the physical experience of painting as objects. Then the COVID-19 pandemic forcibly changed the way we experience art. While restrictions on gathering in person may be easing, the online exhibition biome developed by museums and galleries during the past year continues to grow and evolve as its own environment.

Visually, each artwork in the show also similarly skirts the line between incorporeality and tactility. This ambiguity can be seen in the intermingling, overlapping reservoirs of vibrant colors of Stephen Maine, the dizzying, undulating patterns of John Cox, John Pomera’s fraying images interlaced with intrusive black bars, the soft, flowing petal-like structures in the works of Amy Vensel, and Alicia Philley’s explosive, highly kinetic ribbons of color. The implication of painterly material is imbued within each of the digital works while still fully embracing their digital nature.