Out of the Box: Williamsburg Artist Finds Solace in Nintendo

by Alyssa Rapp

In Manhattan, the New York City borough housing the highest density of fine art per square mile, students often associate visual art with museum visits. Yet downtown nightclubs, infused with video clips and pulsing electronic music, allow us to experience art as well.

Jeff Donaldson, aka NoteNdo, proves that art can be expressed through the technology of our post-modern world as he creates audiovisual installations, editing computer-generated visual screenings to accompany electronic music. He works at his studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, a mecca for artists and musicians who seek shelter from Manhattan’s congestion and high rent.

With a tip from a friend about Jeff’s work, I hitched the L train, praying to find artistic marrow beneath the hipster facade that my caved uptown mind conjured of Williamsburg. My preconceptions, though heightened as I inhaled Bedford Avenue’s stage of incense, melted as soon as I arrived at Jeff’s studio space, stacked to the gills with wires and video game consoles.

Jeff’s genuine love for his work electrified the space as he talked about manipulation of antiquated video game systems and creation of electronic music. Part of a whole following of “circuit-bending” people who modify their home electronics, Jeff uses a Sega Genesis with a patch bay to generate images with abstract colors and textures. He forces 8-bit Nintendo games such as Duck Hunt and Punch-Out!! to crash so that chunks of data spew out and then spontaneously order themselves, forming vibrant “auto-collages.”

“Just as Duchamp modified a bicycle, I’m modifying what the system is doing,” Jeff said. Describing the systems as “post-cubist ready-mades,” he wants the audience to interact with what the devices produce. Jeff considers the sensation of being in the moment paramount in his work and uploads still snapshots of the collages, editing them together, often synchronized with music, to evoke an “epileptic” sensation in the viewer.

A guitarist with a background in classical composition, his work with Nintendos lead him to create experimental “chiptunes” with modified Game Boys akin to the prepared piano that John Cage invented. Jeff’s work has permeated both the realms of museum space and nightlife scenes, having been exhibited in museums such as the Museum of Modern Art in Paris, the Leonard Pearlstein Gallery in Philadelphia, the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, and the club atmosphere of the Bent Festival, an annual festival featuring do-it-yourself circuit bending, hardware hacking, and electronics.

Meanwhile, the artist has transported his work from display spaces, branching into the apparel market and allowing the “auto-collages” to brighten utilitarian needs of daily life. Inspired by the textile-like qualities of the installation patterns, Jeff has created a set of scarves from slices of his still snapshots. Because of their immense popularity, he is currently designing a new line that will be available on his Web site.

Alyssa Rapp is a Sophomore at Barnard College majoring in Art History and Visual Arts. Art in Four Boroughs runs alternate Tuesdays.