Digital Tulips in Bloom

On a recent walk in my neighbourhood in North Toronto, I caught a glimpse of spring on a sunny autumn afternoon. Canadian-Dutch visual artist Dana Slijboom has installed a striking open-air gallery of digitally inspired tulips rendered on acrylic panels installed on the hoarding of a local condominium site. Typically covered in posters or sales-driven marketing imagery, this hoarding is clean and white, providing the canvas for the artist to express her intention. She clearly embraces digital aesthetics; the tulips appear like large-scale, vector-based illustrations, but look at them closely, they are rendered in jagged pixelated form - like a low-resolution photograph or a grainy video still. The technique is strictly linear and flat, but striking in its form and colour. It’s a delightful outdoor gallery; though temporary, it adds a bit of digitized beauty to a busy site.