{"id":787292,"date":"2026-07-08T16:11:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T16:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/787292\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T16:11:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T16:11:11","slug":"artist-billy-clifton-strawn-explores-the-beauty-of-pixels-in-pixels-at-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/787292\/","title":{"rendered":"Artist Billy Clifton-Strawn explores the beauty of pixels in ‘Pixels at Play’"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

In the basement of Atlanta\u2019s Central Library,\u00a0 in his latest solo exhibition, artist Billy Clifton-Strawn <\/a>is asking visitors to look closer at the smallest unit of a digital image, the pixel. His show, \u201cPixels at Play,\u201d is on view in the Alcove Gallery at Atlanta Central Library <\/a>through Sept. 8.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Billy\u201cThe Glass Blowers,\u201d on view in Billy Clifton-Strawn\u2019s \u2018Pixels at Play.\u2019 (Courtesy of Billy Clifton-Strawn) <\/p>\n

What does it mean to let a pixel play?<\/p>\n

Most digital images hide their building blocks. Clifton-Strawn leaves his visible. \u201cOn its own a pixel isn\u2019t particularly special, just a tiny square of color,\u201d he says. \u201cBut the moment thousands of them combine, your eye starts reading a whole image out of it, and that\u2019s the part that fascinates me.\u201d That moment where \u201ca bee can become a deity, or a bird can forget it was ever a bird, or a face can assemble itself out of pure frequency and walk into the room like it owns it,\u201d Clifton-Strawn says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The large-scale and screen pieces on display in\u00a0 \u201cPixels at Play\u201d reflects a broader shift in Clifton-Strawn work. \u201cMy practice has been pulling me toward building fully immersive exhibitions for a while now,\u201d he says. \u201cI want to keep pushing past the frame entirely and build rooms people step inside of, not just walls they look at.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two pieces in\u00a0 \u201cPixels at Play,\u201d \u201cExpanses\u201d and \u201cThe Pleasure of Coming Apart,\u201d measure nearly 15 feet and are printed on fabric. \u201cThose two pieces needed to command the body before they engage the mind,\u201d Clifton-Strawn explains. \u201cYou don\u2019t decide to be inside them, you just are.\u201d The exhibition also includes archival pigment prints and digital screen works. Clifton-Strawn says the mix is part of an effort to show that digital art is \u201cno less legitimate than paint on canvas.\u201d<\/p>\n

The weight underneath the play<\/p>\n

Four works make up the series \u201cStill Here,\u201d which is a response to what Clifton-Strawn describes as \u201can era of rollbacks and erasures, renewed hostility toward queer people in America.\u201d The pieces were originally made for Coca-Cola\u2019s Pride exhibitions at the company\u2019s corporate headquarters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One piece, \u201cPeople Are People,\u201d makes the point directly. As Clifton-Strawn puts it: \u201cWe are all human beings, we are just people. Not categories, not threats, not problems to be legislated.\u201d The other three pieces in the series carry their own charge: \u201cBroken Promises\u201d addresses commitments made to queer people and not kept; \u201cTaking It to the Streets\u201d renders protest as visual frequency; \u201cWe Will Rise From This\u201d centers a phoenix.<\/p>\n

\"Billy<\/p>\n

\"Billy<\/p>\n

\"Billy
\nFrom abstract color fields to figures suspended in light, Clifton-Strawn \u2018Pixels at Play\u2019 spans a striking range of visual worlds. (Courtesy Billy Clifton-Strawn)<\/p>\n

Another work in the show, \u201cThe Pride We Carry,\u201d traces Clifton-Strawn\u2019s family across six monitors. The screens move among his parents as teenagers, himself at age 7, the concept of Liberty \u201cfracturing under pressure,\u201d his husband, David Clifton-Strawn, and a lion that closes the piece, in his words,\u201d not with resolution but with resolve.\u201d The whole thing is non-linear. \u201cBecause memory doesn\u2019t move in a straight line, and neither does this story,\u201d Clifton-Strawn says. The six monitors run with no fixed order, so the piece can hold \u201cseveral moments at once, the way real recognition actually happens in a family.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Ask Clifton-Strawn why exhibit in a library, and the answer comes fast.\u00a0 \u201cA library is one of the last truly public spaces we have,\u201d he says. He\u2019s hoping to reach \u201csomeone who wasn\u2019t planning on encountering art that day, someone browsing the stacks who wanders into the Alcove almost by accident.\u201d Asked what he wants a visitor to feel first, he says: \u201cCharged up, like something in the room just handed them permission.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPixels at Play\u201d is on view through Sept. 8,, in the Alcove Gallery<\/a> at Atlanta Central Library.\u00a0 A free, public panel discussion runs 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. July 11, followed by a reception from 2 to 4 p.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the basement of Atlanta\u2019s Central Library,\u00a0 in his latest solo exhibition, artist Billy Clifton-Strawn is asking visitors…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":787293,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[371549,449,458,459,371550,64,63,371551,460,134,371552],"class_list":["post-787292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-alcove-gallery","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-atlanta-central-library","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-billy-clifton-strawn","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-pixels-at-play"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=787292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/787293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=787292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=787292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=787292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}