Tech wizard wows art world Tech wizard wows art world (April 09, 2004)

Silicon Valley engineer expresses inner muse through technology

by Terry Tang

It took engineer Jim Campbell a long time to feel worthy of the title "artist." His comfort level didn't grow as the art world hailed him as a high-tech visionary. Over time, he realized that ability shouldn't be measured by praise or profit.

"(Being an artist) is not an unachievable thing," Campbell said. "It's for anyone who is committed. Now, I see it more as a field like carpentry or engineering. If you're a good artist or a bad artist, it doesn't matter."

For more than 10 years, Campbell has won critical appreciation for his media installations merging art and electronics. Besides using circuit boards and colored pixels, Campbell's pieces rely heavily on audience response.

While he never went to art school, Campbell has always demonstrated an interest in visual arts. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Campbell took filmmaking classes while earning degrees in mathematics and electrical engineering. His post-collegiate jobs included a stint in Hollywood, where he worked on the crew of Francis Ford Coppola's 1982 cinematic dud, "One From the Heart." The absence of stars in his eyes, Campbell only cared about the behind-the-scenes applications.

"Well, it wasn't the glamour part of Hollywood," Campbell said. "(Coppola) used a lot of video technology before other people did. That was my interest at the time and I was interested in filmmaking. It was sort of a way of combining the two things I was interested in."

Campbell then gravitated toward independent filmmaking. He developed a documentary on mental illness while earning money as a video repairman. By 1985, he opted to go in an alternate career direction and took up electronic installation, the exhibition of technological art.

Three years later, "Interactive Hallucination," his first interactive installation, took the limelight. Since then, his pieces have been displayed in numerous cities from Tokyo to New York.

Clearly, his engineering skills haven't suffered during the pursuit of visual artwork. Campbell owns more than a dozen patents in image processing and high definition television. In addition, the San Francisco resident manages to squeeze in three to four days per month as an engineer with Genesis Microchip, a Silicon Valley-based supplier of display image processors.

Yet, he has plenty of time to devote to his art projects, which include upcoming shows in Denver and Santa Fe.

"I'm exactly where I want to be at this point. I feel very lucky," he said.

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