Hemphill Fine Arts opened two shows this past weekend, showcasing James Huckenpahler's digital prints in Mindless Pleasures and David Byrne's furniture design in Furnishing the Self – Upholstering the Soul (Chairs). And while both shows are housed in the same gallery space, they displayed art at opposite ends of the spectrum in both medium and in feel.

The first of the two shows at Hemphill is Huckenpahler’s computer art presented in Mindless Pleasures. His work is cold, clinical and highly abstract, with miscellaneous shapes making up his compositions. The abstractions protrude then recede, twist and turn and break into blobs. There are glimpses of human forms, a possible arm here, maybe a face there. It all seems otherworldly, like an alien landscape with deformed mountains and canyons.

In study for land grab, this is most obvious. The shapes are gentle, with rounded peaks and valleys covered in chrome. Lens flairs are non-existent, only bright highlights reflecting in the shiny finish.

In part of a series titled mindless pleasures - #10, #2, #8 (pictured), and #6 display striking contours in black and white. The lines, thick then thin, often get too close and appear to vibrate and hum, hurting the eye.

Huckenpahler has mastered his technique and plays with many filters and textures to see how his abstract shapes fare in chrome or saturated color, though these textures seem forced, decided on as an after thought. His imagery is indeed mindless. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to the shapes presented. It is intangible and seemingly out of reach.

In contrast to this, David Byrne’s Furnishing the Self – Upholstering the Soul (Chairs) is accessible. Byrne's take on the chair is warm and welcoming with more than a dash of whimsy.

The artist (and of course, former Talking Heads frontman and current Internet radio god) has an interpretation of the "chair" that comes in many different forms and he succeeds in deconstructing this everyday object only to reconstruct it out of impracticable and ridiculous materials. He showcases the chair in three different mediums including sculpture, photographic prints and tapestry.

Byrne’s photographed chairs are ink jet prints mounted on board and look like they are from a furniture design coffee table book on the history of the modern chair. The photographs all have a slightly aged look about them, and the chairs pictured are made from found materials such as a filing cabinet, molecule erector sets and phone books.

His tapestries are rich in texture and all are made from fancy upholstery. The chairs are simple line drawings, floating in the center of the fabric. Each is deliberately outlined in a contrasting color and embroidered onto the fabric. Each canvas depicts its chair made out of an impossible material such as smoke, a cloud, or a brain stem. In Comfy Face an outline of a very comfortable looking chair is embroidered in bright red thread onto a gray paisley print fabric. The chair has anthropomorphic characteristics and is smiling, welcoming you to come and sit for a spell.

In Macaroni, Byrne takes a slim metal frame and covers it in macaroni pasta. The uncooked pieces glisten with glue and transform the simple frame into a sculptural piece. Byrne’s Macaroni is a reoccurring theme as it is displayed in sculptural form as well as in a photograph and tapestry (pictured). The repetition of this one chair, done in multiple media helps bring the show full circle, providing cohesion.

Mindless Pleasures #8 and Macaroni courtesy of Hemphill Fine Arts.

Mindless Pleasures and Furnishing the Self - Upholstering the Soul (chairs) are both on display at Hemphill Fine Arts until December 22, 2007. The gallery is located at 1515 14th St NW and is open Tuesday - Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., or by appointment.