Jeffrey Lerer

Lerer's animation and multimedia projects have been exhibited for the past ten years at locations across the country, including the Bennett Siegel Gallery in New York City, the Roy Park School of Communications at Ithaca College, McGill University in Quebec, and at the TJ Watson Research Center. His work "Three Ticket Slot" was included in the PBS national broadcast, "The 90s (It's Debatable)". His new work is a 3D Novel ,"Manuscript Fragments Found at the Gilbert Hotel".He has taught at the Fashion Institute of Technology and designed courses for Pratt Institute where he has taught 2D and 3D computer graphics and animation. He is presently teaching at School of Visual Arts, NYC. He has received awards from the New York State Council on the Arts, sponsored by the Experimental Television Center, the Experimental Television Center's Finishing Funds Program, TJ Watson Research Center, Electronic Music Department, and the Fund for Innovative Television. He received a Fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts in Video. He is on the Animation Committee for SIGGRAPH.  He received a BA in Political Science and Psychology from the University of Arizona and studied computer graphics and animation through the Professional Studies Program at the Pratt Institute.

I spent most of the 1970s living and exhibiting paintings and sculpture in Mexico.  I returned to New York in 1981, and, by 1985, my project designs and general concepts shifted from serialized painting and sculpture to animated paintings on time-based media.  I gradually incorporated computer technology into the studio process and, by 1997, was focusing entirely on 3D computer animation.  In conjunction with my studio activities, I have taught 3D computer modeling and animation at Pratt Institute and Fashion Institute of Technology, and joined the faculty of School of Visual Arts in 1998, teaching Advanced Narrative Development, Junior Thesis Research and BFA Senior Thesis in 3D Computer Animation.
My animation work has received the following awards:
1992 Fund for Innovative Television, Finishing Funds, 3 Ticket Slot
1993 Experimental Television Center, Finishing Funds, Memory Box I
1994 Experimental Television Center, Finishing Funds, Memory Box II
1995 New York State Council on the Arts, Media Production Grant, Individual Artists Program, for development of Memory Box III
1996 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, Category of Video Art, Memory Box Trilogy
1996 T.J. Watson Research Center, equipment/location for the development of The Codger Twins
1996 Experimental Television Center, Finishing Funds, The Codger Twins
2001 Experimental Television Center, Finishing Funds, Manuscript Fragments Found at the Gilbert Hotel, Fragments a-c
2001 New York State Council on the Arts, Media Production Grant, Individual Artists Program, for development of the Gilbert Hotel, Fragments d-f
2003 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, Category of Computer Art, The Gilbert Hotel
The transition from oil paint on canvas to 3D computer animation has been a thirty year evolution, fueled by an intense formal dialogue between studio materials and narrative ideas.  The following is a summary of key developments, accompanied, where necessary, with conceptual notes:
Chronological Development
I had traveled to Mexico a number of times in the 1960s, and lived in Mexico City for one year before moving to New York in 1971.  The driving motivation to return to Mexico, in 1974, was a desire to paint in an environment far from the influences of New York modernism, and find stimulus in an unfamiliar cultural environment.  My work responded well to the change.  
1975 Galeria Opjectos, Mexico City, Photography and mixed media documents.  A one-man show experimenting with painting, photographic fragments and semiotics.  Uncomfortable with painting as a pure aesthetic activity, I was searching for a way to involve a narrative without destroying the visual immediacy of the work.
1977 Awarded a Residential Visa as Invited Artist, Department of Fine Arts and Culture of Mexico.  This enabled me to become more involved in the artistic community and seek stronger gallery representation.  As more artists came in contact with my work, many were curious about my methodology with regard to serialization.  This same year, I established a workshop to help artists organize their serialized exploration.
1978 Kligerman Gallery, Mexico City - Paintings and works on paper.  A one-man show concentrating on color fields and nuances of text.
1980 Galeria Hagerman/Banos, Mexico City, Paintings, works on paper and iron constructions.  A one-man show expanding on two series: 1) Canvas divided by horizon and direction of light; 2) Canvas divided by vertical bars of primary color, separated by panels of primaries brushed vigorously into muddied fields.  The vertical primary bars were then extrapolated into free standing iron sculptures multi-coated with car lacquer.
1981 Galeria Hagerman/Banos, Mexico City, Paintings and works on paper.  A one-man show expanding on the previous 1980 show.  However, I was feeling too confined in reductive abstraction and began to introduce biomorphic forms.  
Unexpectedly, I began to miss New York.  Returning to New York in 1981, my work began taking on increasingly biomorphic content.  I was throwing off influences and establishing contact with a more personal voice.  In 1983, this led to a break with the galleries that had represented me.  Their offer was quite simple - "Return to your previous series and we will continue to support you."  I was thrown into quite a financial crisis.  Fortunately, I had very strong darkroom skills and was able to work at Russo Reprographics, producing the entire Brooklyn Bridge Centennial Exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum of Art.    
1984 New York Department of Preservation awarded, as individual artist, a budget to execute an installation in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  Upper floor windows, spanning two blocks of commercial buildings, were used to install 84 paintings, each window acting as a freeze frame from an imaginary film of a city moment.  In 1985, the Inaugural Ceremony of the project installation was presided over by Howard Golden, Brooklyn Borough President.
This was a period of wide-open experimentation.  By 1986, I was shifting concentration from works on paper and paint on canvas to time-base, most essentially electronic media.  Based on a series of large format paintings in progress, the following animations were completed: Now and Then Again and Now and Forever More, an evolutionary fabrication, and  Paradise Workshop Trilogy, Getting A Head Going Places, wherein eyes, ears, nose and throat, disembodied information gatherers, consolidate and get_a_head.
1989 Bennett Siegel Gallery, NYC - Paintings, objects and video animation.  A one-man show presenting the painting series and corresponding animation that resulted from the Paradise Workshop Trilogy.  When I first started experimenting with time-base, the paintings were generating the animation ideas.  At this point, the animations were beginning to generate the painting ideas.
1990 Bennett Siegel Gallery, NYC - Paintings, objects and video animation.  A one-man show further expanding on the 1989 show.  During the year in which this show was produced, I was progressively focusing more of my efforts on animation.
I began using the computer to assist in some of the repetitive tasks of 2D animation.  I had heard a bit about 3D computer animation and did a little investigation.  My first exposure to 3D computer animation was truly an epiphany.  A 3D interface, where one could sculpt, paint and animate, had now become available on affordable workstations.  More importantly, the visual output was so unusual, but in subtle ways.  I literally got a chill, from the bottom of my feet to the top of my head, and I said "NOW THIS IS MODERN".  The only rub was, one could not simply dive into 3D.  The formal and technical issues were seemingly endless.
1990 Pratt Institute Manhattan, Professional Studies Program - Began formal studies of 3D computer animation.
1992 Pratt Institute Manhattan - Joining their faculty, from 1992-97 I designed and taught courses in experimental and traditional 2D and 3D computer animation, introducing an advanced-level course structure to the curriculum.  
1992 During post-production on the second and third parts of the Paradise Workshop Trilogy, Right Hand Man and Hatchet Man, the Ancestor, I gained control of a direct technique of video animation I had been experimenting with for several years.  That produced 3 Ticket Slot, an animation about the electoral process and the 1992 Presidential Race.  3 Ticket Slot was awarded Finishing Funds by Fund for Innovative Television.  
1992 3 Ticket Slot appears on PBS "In the 90s", nationwide broadcast
1993 Memory Box Trilogy was conceived.  References to surrounding socio-political events, continuous media information flow and my evolving identity provide the framework within which the principal narrative develops. A tenuous balance is established between adapt and change and the threat of overload. As the information flow increases, the logical processing activity of the box struggles to maintain order amid increasing chaos.
1993 Memory Box I, Experimental Television Center, Finishing Funds
1994 Memory Box II, Experimental Television Center, Finishing Funds
1995 Memory Box III, New York State Council on the Arts, Media Production Grant, Individual Artists Program
1996 Memory Box Trilogy, New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, Category of Video Art
Simultaneously, I was working on The Codger Twins.  Two years were spent completing the basic set of laws and rules that govern the world in which the Codgers live.  The Codger Twins series is a rather tongue in cheek approach to advanced scientific research in fractal theory, multiple-dimensional space and quantum mechanics.  The premise of The Codger Twins gained the attention of Dr. Mandelbrot and the T.J. Watson Research Center.
1996 The Codger Twins , T.J. Watson Research Center, Grant providing equipment and location for development
1996 The Codger Twins, Experimental Television Center, Finishing Funds Award
1996 Guest lecturer at the T.J. Watson Research Center, where the first installment of The Codger Twins was shown.  The presentation of The Codger Twins was enthusiastically received.  The essential message in my lecture was about how I, as an artist, use scientific discovery as metaphor in my work.  By the time we reached Q&A the room went up for grabs.  Finally, the Director had to put an end to the event and herd these extreme thinkers back into their individual cubicles.  Yes, some were actually seen walking into walls or just standing in hallways starring at ceiling tiles.
Mark Ballora, Professor of Electronic Music at Penn State, began composing the sound score for Now and Forever More and Paradise Workshop Trilogy.  The ongoing development of the sound library and scores were incorporated in his doctoral thesis at McGill College, Department of Music, and presented, each year (1997-1999), as part of McGill College GEMS Experimental Festival Program.
1997 Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT).  I joined the faculty teaching 3D Computer Animation.  Subsequently, I was contracted as consultant to help design the new BFA Degree Program in Computer Animation at FIT.  

1997 Manuscript Fragments Found at the Gilbert Hotel was conceived.  The Gilbert Hotel is a 3D computer animated compendium of vignettes.  Each release, consisting of 3 fragments, presents the viewer with intimate close-ups of life at this hotel of the absurd.
1998 School of Visual Arts, Computer Art Dept. - I joined their faculty and continue to teach Advanced Narrative Development, Thesis Research and Senior Thesis in 3D Computer Animation.  The faculty of the Computer Art Dept., under the direction of John McIntosh, Dept. Chair, has grown this program to be one of the finest of its kind in the United States.
1998 The Media Center, Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, NY - Iron Horse© (completed 8/97) and Memory Box I, II & III included in an exhibition entitled Landscape: Mediated Views.  This project received support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts.
The novelist, Lisa Reardon (Billy Dead and Blameless), was brought in as story editor to help establish formal structure to the Gilbert Hotel script.  We had monthly storyboard meetings for more than a year.  The interdisciplinary collaboration was very successful, producing a 125 page script.  Once the script became formalized, the characters gained more individuality.  This has led to a higher degree of volatility, in that each character is now more apt to improvise within the confines of each scene.
2000 After three years of pre-production, the Gilbert (Fragments a-c) goes into production.
2001 Experimental Television Center, Finishing Funds, Gilbert Hotel, Fragments a-c
2001 New York State Council on the Arts, Media Production Grant, Individual Artists Program, for the development of Gilbert Hotel, Fragments d-f.
2002 Appointed Chair of a committee to determine academic standards for the Computer Art Dept., School of Visual Arts.
2003 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, Computer Arts Category, for The Gilbert Hotel Project.
In addition to ongoing production, all efforts are being made to place The Gilbert Hotel in festivals and television programming slots.  To date, The Gilbert Hotel has been shown in the following venues:
2001 Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY, Guest lecturer and screening
2002 9th Digital Salon, SIGGRAPH, Visual Arts Museum, New York, NY
and Avila, Spain
REEL New York, Channel 13 WNET PBS
IMMEDIA Animation Festival, Ann Arbor, Michigan
New York Expo of Short Film and Video, New York, NY, Juror's Award

2003 Lancaster Film and New Media Festival, Lancaster, England
Electronics Alive II, National Computer Artists Invitational, University of Tampa, Scarfone/Hartley Galleries
Howl Festival, East Village Film Festival, Pioneer Theater, New York, NY

It is the glimpse of an idea that drives the work.