Paul Bibby
A Byron Bay art gallery is seeking to bring paintings to life in its new exhibition, by making Augmented Reality technology part of the experience.
The Space Cowboy Gallery, located in the Byron Industrial Estate, has introduced the quirky tech angle as part of its new exhibition Once Upon a time: a collective imagination.
Art lovers will be invited to view the paintings through their phones and iPads to see, hear and feel colourful, computer-generated objects and creatures jumping out of the canvasses.
The contemporary skeleton-drenched artworks of gallery founder and famous local street performer Space Cowboy (aka Chayne Hultgren) will feature prominently in the exhibition, alongside those of fellow emerging artists Nathan Paddison and Monsieur Diop.
‘I’ve always been fascinated by the art of illusion, now, for the first time I’m bringing illusion into my artworks’, Hultgren says.
‘You get to see each one come alive in their own unique way.
‘All you need to do is bring your smartphone.
‘It’s not a trick, it’s not a special effect, it’s real. Come and see for yourself.’