NOTE: This is the body to a letter I sent recently in response to an inquiry about the media I worked in for “Content” series exhibits & my MFA show (also titled “Content” in 2007-8). I think it makes for a good new artist’s statement, so I’m sharing it here & in the blogs. For those interested in connecting images to text, I would suggest checking out the relevant archived stills at AFH Flickr in the sets (look for “Content” and “Patterns” and the OPFEEK (Optical Feedback) video documentation from “LULA: Super Lucky #1″ installation at AFH Gallery Chinatown, from May 2007.
VIEW AN OPFEEK VIDEO (LULA: SL#1).
The digital prints on 1/2″ acrylic are created in Photoshop, using digital and traditional media as source material (drawings, paintings, photos, digital paintings, etc). They are printed directly on the acrylic, with a Mimaki Hi-Resolution Ultraviolet Curation Inkjet printer. There is only one such printer in the US, and I have had the good fortune to Beta test it, through Harvest printing and a small company called Pop Cling.
The presentation design is my own. To date, I have executed 32 such prints in these dimensions:
24 x 24″
35 x 24″
48 x 24″
They are output as unique pieces (editions of one with 2 A/P). I would be willing to expand the editions to five. The print is applied in verso. The dimensional effect is very compelling. Optics through the acrylic are slightly distorted. They impact viewers in a sculptural way, therefore, especially when presented precisely in an array with little variance among the pieces (relative to floor, distances between pieces, etc.) The presentation method is inspired by Donald Judd vertical boxes in this respect. I have installed one of Judd’s plexi/metal arrays before, and was deeply affected by his design, which includes subtle chance elements and rigid installation procedures. It is a very elegant tension.
The print patterns are inspired by Scottish tartans and Southwest Native American blanket weavings. I am Scot by heritage, and spent several months in Scotland exhibiting (on Skye & in Edinburgh) and researching the visual language of my ancestors, and its related expressions in dance, astronomy, and poetry. I lived in Santa Fe for 10 years, and have had continuous relations with Native Americans my entire adult life. These two central influences are applied in these artworks tonally, as content, although their effect is universal. The patterns affect viewers as jewels. They are strangely peaceful and harmonious, comforting and elevating in the environment. They do, if I may suggest it, infer the sublime, and this is intentional.
The optics are also worth mentioning here. The particular printer I am working with is most valuable in its rendering of Hi-resolution graphics. My patterns are created at the sub-pixel level. I check them at 1600x magnification (as relevant to Albers’ work), to verify that they continue to function as contemporary art even at the micro-scale. The iterations of the images that I exhibit are scaled from that starting point. The human-scaled objects (the print sized up to 48″ vertical, presented 2′ from the floor) are - how can I phrase this - only one proportion on an infinite scale. Beginning with the first digital iteration - typically a rectangle or square cell executed at 6 - 12″ at 72-300dpi - each finished file is a “cell,” which can be converted into a pattern and “poured” into a new, larger or smaller dimension. That cell then is subjected to the series of “moves” that yield another unique symmetrical “cell.” Each cell references the others in the series, because each originates from the same set of raw visual data. The LULA series exhibited at Timothy Yarger’s gallery in “Content” is a good example. The entire set of very diverse visually 24″ square objects originates from a single small jpeg digital photo of my girlfriend Lauren (whom you met briefly at the LAAS fair). These 24″ artworks could potentially be output and tiled at 24′ or 240′ or … The technology exists to do so. It is only a question of budget and production logistics.
The large graphic wall installations in the MFA show (for instance) are created in cast vinyl with an adhesive verso, for easy de-installation. Although the works linked for you were temporary, it is possible to execute these using more permanent media. Again, these images are derived from traditional and digital artworks (drawings, paintings, digital graphics). I often begin the process with ink (sumi, pen or marker, sometimes oil-based media). The more abstract works lately have been executed with French curves and other ancient devices developed for geometric drawings. These drawings are translated into vectorized media and scaled up to produce the large vinyl works, although they can be output in practically any scale (very postmodern). The cast vinyl, once applied, has the appearance of wet paint and the colors are very intense. In general, the drawing can be output in any Pantone hue. The concept for these works is the “Woven Form,” a 4Dimension schema that has many definitions and functions. I won’t go into those here, but I have explored the Woven Form in many aesthetic narratives and applied or production environments. The Woven Form is fundamental to dimensionist art.
I also produce digital animations and video works to complement and expand on the content, aesthetics and narratives introduced by the objects. These moving images, or trans-images, often incorporate all the components that produce the finished objects:
* source material
o paintings
o drawings
o photos
o digital imaging
* narrative references
* documentation of objects finished and installed and exhibited
* inspiration (historical documents, photo documentary, etc)
* samples from relevant art historical or design references
In 2008 I developed video processes that correlate to the print process that results in a symmetrical pattern. Other artists are working on the same dimensional issues, but I am relatively certain that they are not aware of the dimensional aesthetics involved - they are intuiting results based on the pleasure the effects provide them and the viewer, and because they are keen to timeliness.
The objects, installations and moving images can be made to interact with each other in several ways. The presentation methods are typical to new media environments and rely on readily available consumer-grade equipment (projectors, hand-held cameras on tripods, or surveillance cameras, and monitors). I have explored (documented extensively on my websites) many, if not most, of the ways that projection- or monitor based moving images interact with light-reflective objects. I began this aspect of my exhibition practice in 1997, as the electronic equipment matured, and became affordable, accessible, and functional for most art environments. Here are some ways I apply moving images in art spaces where objects are installed.
* Projection of video or animations (common)
* Projection activating static wall installations in traditional or print media, using optical feedback in innovative processes that are viewer interactive
* On monitors (common)
* Through or reflected by graphics on translucent or opaque surfaces respectively
* Through touchscreen or kiosk-style installation monitors (interactive)
I usually use audio in my presentation environments. The sound creates the experiential binder for the viewer as he or she moves through the space. Over the years I have collaborated with many accomplished musicians, composers and sound artists to produce these audio environments. I also produce my own audio works. Each exhibit has its unique sound design. I won’t go into depth here with respect to the audio component of my practice, but I will suggest that it is central.
As you probably deduced by visiting my websites, since 1994 (early days for graphics and the web), I have actively incorporated the digital online medium into my processes. The websites provide a critical nexus and communal medium for development of both my solo efforts and aesthetic concerns, as well as the collective projects for which I serve as Lead Artist. Since 2000, I have produced many innovative web exhibits. I have utilized (since 2006) social networks to establish an international collective, whose work I have hosted online and presented through Art for Humans Gallery Chinatown. I am continually exploring the medium (critically, artistically, politically, socially, aesthetically, etc) to map its parameters. My main concerns are illustrating aspects of online and actual production, and clarifying their relative strengths and weaknesses. For instance, demonstrating the inability of the online medium to replace the “artist reception.” These issues are vital for longterm development of strategies for local through international scaled artist projects, such as those I have produced and those I am planning currently. I approach this aspect of my practice as “open source,” sharing the information freely online, because I recognize that many of the most innovative artists and art professionals are currently struggling to answer many of the questions posed by combinations of new and traditional artist technologies.
I think this is a pretty comprehensive view of my work. I left out a couple of important features, which in some ways probably should have been positioned first. Briefly, I painted exclusively for the first 12 or so years of my artist career, and have never stopped practicing my work as a painter. It is probably the anchor for everything I do. I believe I am at the midway point in my development as a painter, and predict that over the next 3-5 years I will be able to produce a mature body of work in the paint medium that clearly demonstrates the same kind of innovation and progressive vision that I have demonstrated in New Media. The other aspect I have not addressed is environmental installation, and dimensional exhibit practice. I have been experimenting with digital wallpaper and environmental film media since they were first introduced. I have used these media very sparingly over the years in production. I have created several major proposals on the institutional level for floor-to-ceiling graphic environments, which are today not all that uncommon at top-rate museums and galleries with sufficient means or patronage.
To help you visualize what I mean, I would describe one currently unproduced proposal, which combines all applications currently available in my production skillset related to the Pattern & Woven Form. The floor, walls and ceiling and any windows would be covered with patterns, using digital print/wallpaper or digital print/3M Scotchcal or other film. The Pattern prints on acrylic (as well as framed works on paper) would be installed on the walls. Animated Patterns and Video Patterns would be displayed on monitors and projected (in several ways) on interior Patterned (or reflective) surfaces. The exhibition space exterior (the outside of the building, for instance, even the sidewalks or street or any other 3d surface) can also be Patterned, with projections or prints. New compositions in Patterned Audio would be created for the space/exhibit. Patterned Text poetry would be created and presented also. The entire environment, process, documentation, etc., would be presented online in the array of formats (dedicated sites, social networks, blogs, etc.). The specs, elements etc., would be deconstructed and presented individually for use in educational frameworks.