The Willow Glen Resident

Photograph by Skye Dunlap

Artist's Tools: Lincoln Avenue artist Steve Aubrey works at his computer, the medium for his innovative 3-D artwork. "The computer is probably the single most creative tool since the invention of the paintbrush," he explained.

Willow Glen artist finds art in latest technology

By Cecily Barnes

When Willow Glen artist Steve Aubrey was 4 years old he was given a Viewmaster--the binocular-shaped toy that shows three-dimensional pictures through its lenses--and fell in love.

"I liked it better than television," Aubrey said. "I didn't know what was going on, but it made me happy to look at it."

Now 50, Aubrey has taken what is called the "lenticular 3-D medium" and applied it to fine arts, something largely untried in the arts community. Although other artists have three-dimensionalized characters, games and commercial advertisements, Aubrey has applied this technique to his abstract paintings.

Aubrey's work features computer-altered paintings that seem to protrude from the canvas, changing as the viewer's vantage point changes.

"We have this medium that's been standing around with its hands in its pockets waiting to be realized," Aubrey said. "That's what I think I've done with my fine arts background."

To create this art, Aubrey scans his paintings into a computer, where he manipulates them in a painting program. Next he moves the painting into a three-dimensional program, where he tells the computer to convert the image from a flat, two-dimensional picture into a 3-D object. From there, Aubrey manipulates textures, angles and shadows. When hanging on his wall or in the gallery, Aubrey's paintings are shielded by a thick lens that adds more magnification and intensifies the 3-D effect.

"The computer is probably the single most creative tool since the invention of the paintbrush," Aubrey said. "You can do anything with the computer."

Throughout his younger school years, Aubrey was always good at both biology and art--drawing, painting and photography. Since his dad was a pharmacologist, he spent many years thumbing through medical magazines.

"I was fascinated by the pictures; they didn't gross me out at all," Aubrey said.

When he graduated from high school and started at Kent State University, Aubrey decided to major in medical illustration. After college, however, Aubrey moved into graphic design. In 1990 he came to California to get computerized.

"I could see that computers would be necessary to do what I needed to do, so I moved to Santa Clara County to learn," Aubrey said.

Three years ago, Aubrey opened his studio in Willow Glen, where he's been making his art ever since. While Aubrey does commercial 3-D graphics to make ends meet, his true love is his art.

"Like any good artist I wouldn't be happy if I wasn't doing it," Aubrey said.

Monica Vasilescu, media curator for Art Tech, where Aubrey's work is currently being shown, said the show has been very successful.

"We had the opening with around 200 people and they continue to come in," Vasilescu said. "We have a guest book and people keep writing. They all are very thrilled with the show. People come here on their lunch breaks or whenever they have a break from work."

The Silicon Valley Institute of Art and Technology, or Art Tech, will display Aubrey's work until October 24.

"We show mostly electronic and digital art," Vasilescu said. "We want to make a distinction between commercial art and fine art that is created with high-end technology."

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