Kyle Jorgensen: Parastroke

Kyle Jorgensen’s Parastroke is an exploration into the effects that the Windows interface and creative programs—like Adobe Photoshop—have had on a generation of artists who grew up using computers for more of their daily tasks, and how those effects are manifested in their artwork.

Introduced in the 1980s, the Windows interface (WIMP: window, icon, menu, pointer) allowed users to quickly navigate between programs and introduced the idea of layers and visual depth to their desktop computer screens. Later that decade, Photoshop integrated traditional analog art techniques and tools, which enabled artists to digitally “paint” with pixels rather than pigment. With the inclusion of virtual layers, artists could now “build up” a painting the way they would on a canvas.

Parastroke is a playful examination of the Windows interface aesthetic, the shift from analog to digital, and the recent nostalgic return to analog. Jorgensen uses animation and digital prints to compare pixel-based ”brush” strokes to those made by hand. At the same time, he incorporates the hard edges, masking, slices, and cut-and-paste tools found in Photoshop that, in essence, turn his hand-painted panels into computer screens, while his traditional handmade animations become references to software-aided production.