Bonnie Meltzer Computer Series

Bonnie Meltzer
Computer Series

Bonnie Meltzer gets ideas for artworks from computer words and concepts and how computers are perceived by the society in general. The beauty of the recycled computer parts: the patterns, the textures and the glowing sheen give her ideas.

Talk to Me

........

crocheted wire, found objects, beads on antique circuit boards
24' x 64" x 7"

E-mail, letter writing and phone conversation all have their place in how we communicate with people across distances. The important thing is that we do communicate with each other, no matter what the delivery system. The artwork is made of real objects transformed with paint, collage, wire and a jig saw. This work is hung over a fireplace in a private collection. in Berkeley,California. The proposal for this project was delivered through email, an advance in communication between artist and client. The owner could see the drawing placed over the fireplace in the photo of her living room that was scanned into a computer. To see more about the proposal process go to the Portrait of a Proposal page.

Talk to Me detail

.Computer Shrine......

painted wood, copper, crocheted wire and recycled computer parts
45" x 27"

All of us computer users are saying some kind of prayer at one time or another, if not when the computer is working but certainty when it is not. Symbols of the world's religions and historic shrines and reliquary are represented in this artwork. From Tibet came the idea of prayer rolls. the following prayers were stuffed into a piece of wood drilled with many holes:

" Please remind me to back-up and that my back-up isn't corrupted. Please let me get through this year with no major crashes. Please keep my hard disk free from viruses, dust, and bugs. Please protect me from extension conflicts. Please no more versions of the software before I have even learned the current version. Please give me more RAM and a bigger hard drive."

Other symbols of devotion are included--a candle, a mirror, talisman, and, of course, a goddess keeping a watchful eye over it all. This work is not just about our love of computers but of all book making tools--from feathers, to pencils, to keyboards. This artwork was made for the 1995 Oregon Book Arts Conference.It has appeared on the cover of the Portland Useres Macintosh Users Group Magizine and has been in numerous exhibitions. It is now in a priate collection.

Trojan Horse

painted wood, crocheted wire, metallic laser prints and recycled computer parts
50" x 55" x 2"

Can be unassembled for easy, smaller, less expensive shippingThe Trojan Horse has been used for millennia as a symbol for anything disastrous that is disguised as something wonderful. "Trojan Horse" takes some of its imagery and symbolism from the ancient Greek story but it is also about Computer Trojan horses. We are all aware of the viruses that unscrupulous hackers do that bring down individual computer or whole systems.. Remember that love letter email that brought down so many computers. That was a Trojan Horse.Not only is the subject matter derived from the computer but so are the materials and the techniques. The original computer drawing was rather small and simple. It was enlarged to a multiple page drawing that was used as a template from which I cut out the foundation boards. Electronic parts and crocheted magnet wire embellish the surface. Drawings of soldiers with hard disk shields or telephones and a two faced man with a mask and a gift were printed on Teslin, a plastic printing sheet, with a laser printer. Foil was adhered to the toner in some areas. Blank areas were painted.