High-tech art As you

By Andrea Torres | THE RIDER

As you enter the Art Gallery at Rusteberg Hall in Brownsville, you will see more than 10 canvases with only words written on them. A closer look at some of the pieces in the first exhibit of the semester will reveal a QR code.

This code provides a specific link to a video that is part of the story or statement the piece is making.

In one work, artist Eduardo Ibarra gives his opinion on fellow artist Larry Bob Phillips.

“I kind of mention him and make up things,” said Ibarra, whose interactive exhibit, “False Flag: Operation Amalgam Rant,” opens at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the gallery. “They are not true. Some might be true; some are made up just because they sound funny.”

The work includes the names of three songs Phillips likes.

“I write the songs on the canvas and on each song you have a QR code that will lead you to that song, so you can hear the music while you look at the painting,” he said.

Ibarra, who received his bachelor’s degree in painting from the Kansas City Art Institute, has used QR codes in other showcases but this is the first time he uses them to make a personal statement.

“I always try to do imagery that people haven’t seen before and I try to do a whole show related to that idea,” he said. “When you go see it, it is different.”

The artist said that any QR code reader can be used to access the content in his exhibit.

This is Ibarra’s first exhibit since 2007.

Art Lecturer Alejandro Macias remembers attending one of Ibarra’s shows when he was a student.

“He had these very large paintings of people, like, in strange situations, like in trash cans, inside of sharks, inside of kangaroo pouches and they were done very well, I remember that,” Macias said. “It’s still stuck in my head.”

The exhibit continues through Sept. 30 and is free to the public. For more information on the exhibit, email Macias at alejandro.macias@utrgv.edu.