Jimmy O’Neal’s solo exhibition, Spittin’ Image, which continues at the Johnson Lowe gallery through April 19, takes its name from the idiom “spitting image,” implying an exact likeness or replication of a thing. O’Neal uses this idiom to reference AI and other generative algorithms, which the artist has been using to create his artworks for almost 20 years. Feeding images of himself and text prompts into these algorithms, O’Neal creates sets of abstract imagery which are superimposed to create the visual structure of each artwork. These nearly unrecognizable meshes of the artist and computer-created images are painted with gray, white and colorless acrylics atop a mirrored panel.
At first glance, they read as flashy kitsch art. Studying them more carefully, I felt disgust at the references to bodily viscera and goopy paint — in one corner of an artwork floats an extracted eyeball, in the center of another a slimy looking fetus. Trailing around a third is a thin strand of colorless paint that is identical to a string of saliva.
This transformation from intrigue to disgust is a wonderful parallel to the initial wonder at the onset of a new technology and the ensuing horror when nefarious uses are discovered — for example, biometric logins for smart devices leading to facial tracking software surveilling nearly all public spaces.
New technologies are revelations — opening entirely new doors of possibility and providing avenues for making the impossible possible. With so much potential at our fingertips, it is easy to get carried away, but care is required. With unrestricted use of new technologies, we might just make a monster.
The incredible beauty of O’Neal’s exhibition derives from simultaneously showing both qualities of technology. These artworks flash in the light and catch your eye, but, get close enough, and you will see that some of them have literally caught an eye. Fortunately, visiting this exhibition won’t cost you an arm or a leg, and, for this, it is a must-see.
