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This Wednesday the new Pink Hobo Gallery in Northeast Minneapolis opens an innovative exhibit featuring three well-respected digital artists: Jer Thorp, James Paterson, and Mario Klingemann. With roots in everything from genetics to interactive design, this trio of rogue creatives are part of a booming new movement that reaches beyond traditional mediums and melds technology and art. Graphic design and digital art has slowly crept into the contemporary art world and established itself as a force to be reckoned with over the last decade, with a considerable jump in mainstream popularity within the past few years. These veteran computational artists use tools such as animation, interactive design and algorithms to create large-scale representations that are both thought provoking and visually intense.

All three artists will be in attendance at the opening reception this Wednesday, June 10th from 7 p.m. to Midnight. Show runs through July 20th.  Pink Hobo Gallery, 507 E. Hennepin Avenue, Northeast Minneapolis.

Secrets of the City sat down with Pink Hobo/Puny Entertainment owner and creative director Shad Petosky for a quick chat about the new show and Gallery...

You've got some big name artists in the design field in this exhibit -- why did you choose these three specifically?

We're piggybacking on an amazing interactive conference called Flashbelt which is bringing all three guys into the country. We initially were going to do a group show generative art sample to expose people to this kind of work.  I contacted Jer first, as I know him best,  and he wanted to do a show with Mario and James over a group show.  After seeing what these guys are putting together for the show this was a much better idea.  BUT, If you don't like the show, blame Jer Thorp.

What can we expect to see at the new show?

Jer Thorp says that he's doing a 60 sq foot print that represents all of the players in the economic crisis. James is doing a 12' by 12' foot original drawing on paper sections which will cover the opposite wall featuring a projection of his 5000 drawings installation piece.  Mario is grabbing stock imagery and using a algorithm that is similar to foam to generate large patterns. The show will feature a lot of "big."

In the contemporary art world, graphic designers and digital artists have been creating quite a splash over the last five years. Where do the artists in this show fit into that world?

I think labels are the bane of these artists' existences but they are definitely well respected in reputable contemporary art galleries and universities. The way they're thinking and what they're doing is new, pulling large amounts of data for a fine art interpretation simply didn't exist until recently. So it's not some movement that is just now gaining capital A art attention, it's something that is being invented and getting everyone's attention all at the same time.  I have a feeling that the next time you see these artists in Minneapolis it'll be at the Walker.

Can you explain for our readers the connection between Puny Entertainment and Pink Hobo Gallery? What made you decide to add a gallery to your space?

The main connection is the back wall and what you see if you have to wander back to the bathroom, if people make too many connection beyond that then we're failing.  We didn't name it PUNY: The Gallery because we don't want it to be a capabilities pitch, we want it to be as separate of a thing as possible. Adding the gallery once we found this store-front was sort of a no-brainer, I think most people in the arts want to have a gallery at some point.. Some of my favorite MPLS galleries were attached to people's businesses/studios Ox Op, First Amendment, Who Made Who, Creative Electric, and Fox Tax...plus what ROBOTLove is doing in the Soo Vac space.  We can do a lot of fun things because the gallery doesn't have to stand on it's own financially; we don't have to mark-up artist's work for one.  For the Data Art show Jer Thorp is doing a 60 sq ft visualization of the financial crisis using newspaper data.  He wouldn't be able to do this at a gallery where the artist has expectations to sell work or hit certain price points for a collector base.

This is your second official show in the space, what is the response been so far, and are you excited about interacting with the local art scene in Minneapolis?

A few of the local papers and stuff ignored our press release and didn't put us on their event calendar so we didn't think anyone would show up.  Instead the show was packed all night and we got some great local press afterwards, including mainstream TV news which was really neat.  The art scene has been very welcoming, despite us being pretty ignorant when it comes to who's who of local art.  No one has spit wine in my face because we can't afford the right kind of lights or anything.

What artists are you most excited about showing this year?

I'm super excited about the Pine Wood Derby Art Car show.  Where artists take those Cub Scout kits and customize them.  Jenny Schmid said "I was jealous when my brother got to do that as a kid." and J. Otto Siebold said that he won it for his troop when he was a cub scout.   I hope people embrace that nostalgia.  The "Art of Yo Gabba Gabba!" show is going to be fun too, the show has so many great guest artists and designers we love like Mark Mothersbaugh, Paper Rad, and Kangaroo Alliance.

For more information about Pink Hobo Gallery visit www.pinkhobo.com