For the 15th edition of SPRING/BREAK Art Show: Hide N Seek, New York-based artist Patrick Bayly presented a solo conceptual and process-based site-specific digital installation, CAMO. The concept had been brewing in Bayly’s studio for years, with CAMO marking its first public showing. When Bayly paints in his studio, he sometimes uses a projector to sketch and outline ideas. His paintings are highly realistic, representational images, often of people in his life, intricate scenes, and contemporary still life images. Throughout this process, the artist began to notice that he was increasingly more interested in the layered images and illusions created by the projection. Perhaps even more than the end result of the physical painting itself. The projected compositions created a landscape of underpaintings that made the original work of art almost impossible to see.

For CAMO, Bayly acquired an alarming number of plants from the flower district in Manhattan and packed them into a van. He drove the van to 555 West 57th St., the former CBS News building, and wrestled them into a 10 × 10 ft office space. He took photos of them in configurations he liked. During the process, as a true painter, Bayly felt that there needed to be some marks in the room. He used paint and his hands to mark around the plants, leaving what would eventually be marks connecting the objects—the plants—back to the space. He projected the first set of photos he had taken of the plants onto them, using the projectors as lighting sources, then took another set of photos. Once that was done and he had his final images, he removed the plants from the room. For this concept, Bayly recommends disposing of the objects in a manner that is “spiritually significant to you.” For this project, Bayly left them in a dump in East New York with a man named Joe.

After the plants were removed, Bayly presented CAMO: the three images he took in the space projected back onto its walls. He left behind traces for the audience to see that they were standing in the place the plants had been. For example, tiny bits of leaves and twigs littered the carpet, and the lingering smell of the plants hung in the air. In the photos, the paint marks on the wall are visible; then again, they can be seen in real life on the actual walls. If they are willing to investigate, or simply gaze, the viewer may notice the texture of the wall in the photo is the same as in the room, or the carpet is the same, or perhaps notice an outlet or two doubled. However, more traces were left through the process and interaction with others. Bayly needed to conduct the whole process and installation within a couple of days, during which other SPRING/BREAK participants were present setting up their work. During the run of the show, artists and curators spoke to the artist and me about what they had seen, what their experience was like with the plants while they were in the room, and how comical the whole ordeal had been to witness. Traces were left behind through people and memories.