A detail shot of Daniel Rozin’s ‘RGB Peg Mirror No. 5, 2019/2022.’ Rozin’s piece is composed of anodized aluminum knobs, motors, 3D camera, control electronics, computer and custom software. The artwork is courtesy of the artist and bitforms gallery in New York.
Mirror mirror on the wall, who’s the most outrageous of them all?
Well, the answer is simple: Everyone who walks into the LSU Museum of Art.
So, don’t attempt to refresh your lipstick while looking into one of the reflective creations in the exhibit, “Mirror Mirror by Daniel Rozin.”
Daniel Rozin
On second thought, go ahead a try it. The reflection projected back definitely won’t be your conventional mirror image. It’ll be something better — something outrageous.
That’s what makes Rozin’s work fun.
“Daniel is a digital artist,” museum curator Michelle Schulte said. “He’s created these mirrors, along with the software that have code he’s written. Then it’s presented through a computer — in this case, a Mac Mini — and people can see themselves and manipulate the screen through a webcam. So, these mirrors are very interactive.”
Daniel Rozin’s ‘RGB Peg Mirror No. 5, 2019/2022.’ Rozin’s piece is composed of anodized aluminum knobs, motors, 3D camera, control electronics, computer and custom software. The artwork is courtesy of the artist and bitforms gallery.
The point is, they’re much more than mirrors.
“They do different things, so they don’t project just a mirror of your image,” Schulte said. “For instance, one sketches you out, then actually takes the viewpoint and it starts to move it in a way that makes it almost look like you’re being spied on.”
So, be careful when refreshing your lipstick. Someone is watching.
“Mirror Mirror” opened on Nov. 30 and runs through March 3 in the museum, located on the fifth floor in the Shaw Center for the Arts at 100 Lafayette Street.
Daniel Rozin’s ‘PomPom Mirror, 2015’ is composed of software, faux fur pompoms, motors, controls, computer and wooden armature.
In the meantime, Rozin will come to town on Thursday, Feb. 29, for a 6 p.m. talk at the museum.
Though he now makes his home in New York, the artist originally is from Jerusalem, where he studied industrial design. After that, he moved to New York for a job with New York University.
That’s where he fell in love with digital art.
“So now, he’s completely gone over to digital art, and he works in the university’s school of art,” Schulte said. “Danny also is one of the first artists to delve into digital art. He began during a time period, where he was creating digital art for which he had to design the software, mechanics and the hardware.
So, whereas many of today’s digital artists use tools and software specifically made to create art, Rozin invented his own.
“He’s one of those pioneers that went out there and developed the software that now a lot of artists are using,” Schulte said. “He has also taught so many other digital artists who are now working actively on the scene. That’s what makes him different.”
Still, Rozin’s work also makes him stand out from the crowd.
Daniel Rozin’s ‘PomPom Mirror, 2015’ is composed of software, faux fur pompoms, motors, controls, computer and wooden armature.
While other digital artists often remove outside material from their compositions to primarily focus on the piece’s technological capabilities, Rozin embraces the tactile, or sensory.
The artist seeks to devise unique ways to manipulate objects and recreate pixels in a large format scale while incorporating the idea of assemblage and sculpture, wrapping it all into a complex web of computer engineering and software development.
The result are sculptures that blend digital media with material with the unique ability to change and respond to the presence and perspective of the viewer.
“We are showing four of Danny’s pieces — two software mirrors and two mechanical mirrors,” Schulte said. “The mechanical mirrors are highly engineered, and they’re full of all kinds of circuit boards. They manipulate objects, and in this case, they use little pom-poms and little reflective discs that spin. The reflective mirrors move in a way that mimics the person who’s standing in front of them, and by moving the objects, it either creates shadows or it turns different colors. It’s essentially recreating pixels in a way that’s tactile.”
Daniel Rozin’s ‘Mirror No. 12.’
This is the second time Schulte has created a show by Rozin. The first time was while working at the Morris Museum in Augusta, Georgia.
“I showed his work years ago when new media art really started coming onto the scene,” she said. “Digital art was very new. And I wish I could remember the year, I believe it was 2008, it was just starting to make waves, and people were starting to experiment in it. That was when I met Danny and showed one of his software mirrors.”
His mirrors have advanced with time, and they guarantee moments of fun for visitors.
“We haven’t yet started scheduling school groups to see it, because the exhibit opened just after Thanksgiving,” Schulte said. “But we’re going to start scheduling them after the holidays. We know the kids are going to love them.”