This summer the Henry premieres four new videos by artists Andrew Deutsch (U.S., born 1968) and Stephen Vitiello (U.S., born 1964). The artists developed these works from sound files exchanged via a series of emails. Using a Sandin image processor and other technologies, Deutsch and Vitiello created their multi-colored, abstract compositions from these files. Deutsch refers to the process as “electro-dynamic drawing.” The videos are not visualizations of the textural or durational aspects of sound, but rather a direct response and result of them. The complex relationship of sound and image in the work, as well as their hierarchical relationship, question the traditional notion of a soundtrack and allow the viewer to be suspended in a moment of apparent stasis. The artists developed these works in homage to the work of Steina Vasulka (Iceland, born 1940), a pioneer of video art whose investigations in the medium continue to influence their work.

Andrew Deutsch received his BFA in video art and printmaking from Alfred University in 1990 and his MFA in integrated electronic art from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1994. He has shown at Tampa Museum of Contemporary Art, Florida, 2010; the Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2008; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 2001; among others. Deutsch lives in New York where he is a Professor of Video and Sonic Art at the School of Art and Design at Alfred University.

Stephen Vitiello received his BA in literature from State University at Purchase, New York. His work has been featured in exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2013; MASS MoCA, North Adams, Massachusetts, 2011–16; and The High Line, New York, 2010–11; among others. Originally from New York, Vitiello lives in Richmond, Virginia where he is Professor in the Department of Kinetic Imaging at Virginia Commonwealth University.