Laughing forever, but smiling no more.

My images of the final print and contact sheet of sketches aren't uploading now so this preliminary sketch is all I have to offer at the moment...

Artist statement;

My piece for the impact project is simply disturbing. First of all I’ve done it in my own blood which was actually so funny. This works on various levels; it is not at first obvious, there is a threat to the viewer of biological contamination, and it is reminiscent of an artist’s pain and psychosis. In these ways it seemed to force impact by virtue of medium alone. I was pleased to think that this was, in some sense, a libation. A sacrifice such as this seems perfectly appropriate to me, as an artist governed by Saturn I often feel that art must hurt.

The subject matter is disturbing in itself, I noticed at some point that I couldn’t spell slaughter without laughter. I still find this vastly amusing and tried to compose the letters in such a way as to lead the viewer to this coincidence. A large drop of blood at the center of the composition is a visual spectacle that draws attention to the piece itself and reveals the texture of dried blood.

It seemed like this was met with a frosty reception in class. It's strange to see people responding with repulsion to something I find so attractive. This was one premise I was working on, but I feel like the work as a whole was misunderstood.

I tried to get into the printmaking room to recover the final print (which was directed to a drawer for some reason) a few times, but it was always locked. Now I've left.

This really pissed me off.

To think... it might even be thrown away.

Saturn-Impressionen

I had a tough decision on my hands, with my variety of drafts and disparate impressions of them when viewed on different equipment. Foreseeing this difficulty with the printer I came up with this contact sheet as a draft to choose on the basis of how well the printed image looked, as this was most relative to the final product.



Again the colors appear strangely here, I haven't yet figured out why. Anyway after deliberation one of the last two variations seemed to be the most favored. Rather than settle for one of the two I readjusted the original to make some attempt at compromise between the luminosity and contrast of the one and the perfect tonality of the other.



This was the final print but it's such low quality one can't make out much. If there was one thing I'd change it would be sharpening the background up a little. It would have taken half a day to render at this resolution so I did it at half quality to save time. There is some pixilation upon closer inspection only, which I hadn't intended. The effect is actually kind of ironic since the piece seems detached and digital from a viewers personal scrutiny.

I wrote up this artist statement as well.

The premise of the ‘digiscape’ seemed to me a romantic one. Taking an imaginative approach to banal traditional landscape is ideal to me as an artist as my goals are often focused on expression of abstract ideas. I had first thought of depicting a profound concept within the mindscape that encompasses it that works on various levels.

At the time I remember feeling a bit like Prince Hamlet, along the lines of; madness discrete. The Dane was haunted by his uncertainty of things and hindered from action by the turmoil of his ambivalence. I had it in my head at this point to depict our shared fantasy: somewhere that uncertainty does not exist. It seemed to me this would either have to be in heaven, underground or some combination thereof, I’m concerned by the ambiguity of this relationship. The apparent irony here is the uncertainty of a place where uncertainty does not exist. I should probably point out for posterity that heaven and ground are just analogies for any kind of spiritual and material existence one might experience after death.

Speaking of contradictions and psychoses In heaven or underground has an entirely different meaning. The opposition of the two recalls the mood swings of bipolarism; either a heavenly ecstatic mania or grave anguished depression. I could really relate to these wild mood swings in my poor health at the time, and perhaps because of them felt the need to express it.

The two abstracts are held within geometry reminiscent of existential spheres of existence, or perhaps merely the human brain lobes. These intricate organized and embellished patterns are an abstraction of thought and theology. There is both beauty and darkness to be seen here. Apparently obvious, this all looks very complicated. This seems only appropriate for the complex and at times confused ideas that lie beneath.

In heaven, or under ground.

I was thinking about a painting by Jan Van Eyck I saw last time I was at the Met. I'm interested in the composition and how it utilizes the canvas space vertically. Its more interesting to me than a panoramic view especially for conceptualizing this sort of theological subject matter. I'm also inspired by Van Eyck's fevered visions of the heavens the Earth and hell.

The Last Judgment

I had something in mind that was much more abstract but shared the intricacy and adapted the composition. I was hoping to emulate the magnificence of this painting in some way, as I remember how engaging it was to me at the time I noticed it. I have a lot of strange ideas floating around in my head. The heaven earth and hell concept is amusing but personally irrelevant. I chose to depict a place where uncertainty does not exist: in heaven, or under ground.

First I made these two impressions, the first of a cemetery, the second the spirits of the dead. Both of these are perspectival yet supernatural.

These are complex fractals that are distantly related to the Sierpinski triangle (image below). I originally had this form in mind because of the trinity sort of effect it creates seems significant in spiritual context.

I combined these with some Julia fractals I've been designing to get the majesty and intricacy I envisioned. I took some inspiration here from the complex geometric landscapes of M. C. Escher. My forms are much less angular and asymmetrical but still visually disorienting and as

a result engaging.

Relativity

I spent a long time coming up with my own formula for a grand fractal of this sort based primarily upon Julia/Julian transformations. This is my favorite result of these experiments, but it's admittedly imperfect. There is some residual haloing and asymmetry, and although my attempts to remedy this were successful, the side effects made my fractal designs too obtuse and weighty.

This piece was adapted from an established equation for one of these fractals that I imitated in basic form (notice the perfect symmetry and more substance than is typical of my work.. At that point I embellished it radically and designed my own effects and patterns to differentiate it.

I was experimenting with different coloration and effects to see some more dynamic impressions of my landscape, in the spirit of Monet. While my subject matter is not quite as traditional I see an impressionist aesthetic here. It seems like this is becoming an ironically impressionist version of an expressionistic piece.

Impressions: Rouen Cathedral

I was having a lot of trouble getting these drafts uploaded. The file sizes were massive so these are pretty low quality in order to make upload possible. After trying a bunch of times these are still showing up on the page wildly different than the way they are supposed to. You can get a vague Idea of what I'm going for here but the colors and everything are really messed up. I'll try to get this sorted out and keep working. I have some other ideas for different landscapes I may try as well.

Update: I think the issue is the way I reduced file size by just compressing the images rather than changing resolutions, I'll see if it works the other way so I can get the proper images up here.

Forever came today.

Rest in peace. Rozz Williams
Nov. 6. 1963 - April 1. 1998

"All truth is parallel, All truth is untrue"

Operating Table in Hell

I have a set of images in mind which I've been working on for the infinite print project. These are abstract anatomical studies of vertebrae and the central nervous system. Since this project was a free response I felt more comfortable working in my most stylistic, abstract, and prolific environment: Apophysis. The fractals I incorporated into the pieces seem ironically appropriate for a print of infinity. Beyond this I love mathematical art, although I was never very good at math I enjoy the neo-platonic sense that I am recognizing and revealing a hidden beauty through skillful processing.
It comes naturally to me to think in terms of programming rather than depicting, as well as when I'm working on music, so it doesn't surprise me that I've taken to this technique. This may have something to do with the experimental nature of my art, as it has so many complex variables as to open a myriad of original possibilities. Originality is quite important to my artistic output as well, I'd rather create something new and have it turn out badly than imitate something I like and have it come out... kitschy.

The problem with this seems to be that I'm making art for myself, and in not concerning myself with a greater audience I close my mind to certain aspects. There is a self assurance and ignorance to this which doesn't exactly appeal to me.

The specific pieces I'm working on are, as often is the case, personally significant. The overarching theme is the interaction of one's own chemistry and biology. Things that are corporeal and that which is experienced and perceived. Fueled by my morbid fascinations with anatomy and pathology these works depict an abstraction of feeling or being which is paralyzed by flesh and bone. This is an expression of a significant life experience for me. I tried to convey a sense of the immaterial in my renditions of the nervous system. The bones remain but the energy has more transience. Furthermore, I rendered the bones with more naturalism, abstract as they probably seem, while the nervous systems I almost completely interpreted.

In some ways this is a response to my last project which emphasized escape, this one emphasizes captivity: reality. I even began to notice my Cross-sectional study 's vertebral processes took on an almost crystalline aesthetic, probably since it was one of my favorite qualities of the last print.


I just got it to a point where I like it. I was inspired by crude antique cross-sections of the cervical vertebrae which make up the right half of this spinal column. The left half is more of an exterior profile showing the superior and inferior articular processes more inspired by advanced digital imaging techniques of the modern age. In these contrasting manners it gazes internally, and recalls the theme of enhanced images in order to gain perspectives that surpass the human eye, like the 400x magnified DMT crystals used in my last project as Jennifer noticed. I'll upload some pictures later to illustrate the anatomy involved later, as well as some more technical information on how I produced these.



Liberated Vertebrae, this was the first I made in this series. It gets into a much more lavish interpretation of the superior ganglia and energy within an unusually stimulated nervous system. This isn't cropped the as well as I'd like, I'm changing it, and probably some other things for the final draft.




This is a separated yet intertwined rendition of the central nervous system with flesh and bone. Again sort of abstract. It begs the question Who's in control here? Personally I'm partial to the mind, but a balance of both is probably the healthiest concord.


I'm thinking the cross-section may be best suited to this project, although I may use two. In any case I'd like to hear what people think but especially which of them I should use for Thursday, so I can know what I should focus on.

Update; Considering the 8x11 size of standard paper I've resized two of these. This is how they would appear in the context of this project, albeit at lower resolution.

Mors et eius copiae.

I've thought of this new project once or twice. The idea of dissemination I adore, the medium on the other hand isn't as inspirational as the tri-color print was. For the last project I thought "Three colors... I can work with that." This project I find myself thinking "Low quality digital printer, oh angst..."
At least with a digital printer I can work on something much more complex which can be more fun. Yet any average person's printer doesn't necessarily reproduce something very complex with the quality I'd like. I have a piece I've been working on that I may finish and use. I fear that something of the resolution will be lost in the project's poor quality prints so I may save this for later. I have a bad habit of leaving things unfinished, but I have too many new ideas.

The working title for this is The Liberated Vertebrae you really have to click it and view it full size to see it very well.

Revelation dies.

I think I've got this prepared for printing on acetate. After a horizontal flip and confirming the proper resolution...



As it turns out this needed to have space added between images. After a few proofs and two attempts at a print I had to abandon my screen and make a digital print for the final project. Although I'm admittedly disappointed with this failure, at least a digital print can use more colors. I ended up using a similar tracing technique in illustrator with my detailed copy of the draft but with two more layers.

Five Colors



It seems like the product is clearly better than my poorly registered and heavily simplified original copies.


Three ColorsI still like the patterning in the crystals of the first version though...

There's no escaping this reality.

I got some images to illustrate the progression to a tri-color print. The image above (which doesn't seem to appear properly) was my original draft processed directly into illustrator for tracing. As I mentioned in a previous post it came out badly. There wasn't any definition to the details and the forms were generally oversimplified.




Having seen how this first draft came out in illustrator I realised I'd have to redefine and darken the edges myself. This is the original composition detailed with black in photoshop. It doesn't have to be perfect, this attempt was crude but the lines are simplified enough later it comes out fine.


I used the cutout filter in photoshop's filter gallery to get a real time approximation, pictured above, and it's already clear this version is better suited to this sort of processing. Cutout filter proved to be of lower fidelity than the live trace functions in illustrator though, so it was only useful for drafting an image and quickly previewing how it would survive tracing.This is the final product, in panels to compensate for the 24 in. screen width (height 14 in.). Unlike images processed by the cutout filter, the live traced prints are easily resized without unwanted pixilation.

This is the later after color separation in illustrator, which again yields better results than similar techniques in photoshop in my experiments. Three panels each with one of the three colors used make up the image in greyscale in the lower right corner.

All problems solved.

I've been experimenting with how to break down my image into a tri-color print and haven't gotten good results with my draft and simple adjustments like contrast. I took some inspiration from Man Ray, who often detailed his photographs in pencil before making prints, and started defining the images by hand in photoshop prior to processing them in illustrator. I'm getting much better results when transitioning to three colors now. I'll try to get some images up later to illustrate the process. A common thread this work seems to share with that of Man Ray, I am beginning to notice, is derealisation.

I had another idea for text, I have to make note of it before I forget again. "All problems solved."

Load universe into gun, aim at brain... fire.

I got to thinking about how manipulation is personally significant. It quickly became clear that manipulation of perception was relevant. I've never felt terribly comfortable with reality, so I've become intimately familiar with many means of manipulating, but ultimately never escaping it.

This is suicide no. 11. The profane finality of this escapist is yet to be seen, but there is intention in the gesture. This is desperation and misery at the surface, hope and ideal beneath.



This is the stuff of dreams, a crystal of Dimethytryptamine magnified at 400x. Dr Rick Strassman theorized that in human physiology the pineal gland, a sort of vestigial third eye, synthesizes DMT. The expressed effect of this chemical is perceived as dreams. If a brain is traumatized into shock the pineal gland can release a flood of the chemical manifesting in what is known as a near death experience.


I made some adjustments to the image to create some negative space and optical refinement.


I'm playing around with just how it fits and this was appealing to me. I'm still uncertain how it will be colored exactly, so this is black and white. What I like is the play of contrasts. The material world and the artificial, permanent and ephemeral, dreams and drugs. The themes here have deep personal significance, I am not generally comfortable explaining my symbolism since it has a way of decapitating interpretation. I am beginning to understand that my art direction tends to be downright esoteric, or at least irrelevant to the audience, so I hope these notes help with insight. I was also thinking of some surrealist work like "This is not a pipe" by Renee Magritte.
Some text can lend a lot of meaning to a piece, but more importantly clarify the artist's statement. In this respect I might simply state the analogy and title literally "Load universe into gun, aim at brain...fire." This describes the effects of smoking DMT, in particular breakthrough experiences that can be as difficult to psychologically integrate as a bullet. On the other hand there is always the potential for miscommunication and its disastrous consequence. The first words that came to mind for this piece were "Shall we live to regret..." and "Or forget?" but this seems obtusely suicidal and could detract too much from the meaning. I'm going to experiment with this a little and see how I can incorporate text.

Why Not Sneeze, Rrose Sélavy?

Why not Sneeze, Rrose Sélavy?

I have in mind the occasion when Marcel Duchamp got hold of some friends to show them a cage which seemed to have no birds in it, but to be half-full of lumps of sugar. He asked them to lift the cage and they were surprised at its heaviness. What they had taken for lumps of sugar were really small lumps of marble which at great expense Duchamp had had sawn up specially for the purpose. The trick in my opinion is no worse than any other, and I would even say that it is worth nearly all the tricks of art put together. –Andre Breton

This was the first thing to cross my mind when I thought of manipulation in art. It seems like an interesting example to me. The work is dada and one of Duchamp's readymades. He forces the viewer to interact, tricks them, and works on various levels of significance beyond; it's promise of sweetness ultimately a burden. Then I was thinking dada and found some more examples from Man Ray, and Marcel Duchamp. Man Ray manipulated objects in his art to convey ideas, and ideas to convey his dreams.

Le Violon d'Ingres

Kiki's body is as finely crafted as the instrument,

or

Man Ray could play the young parisian as one would an instrument.




In any case a proiminent theme is manipulation.








Monument to Sade


The image was cropped and illustrated by Man Ray, taking on entirely new significance.
















Marcel Duchamp as Rrose Selavy

The artist is his own work of art. Early photographs of Duchamp as Selavy were apparently masculine. This later image refines the concept to something more glamorous.

Cross dressing seems profoundly manipulative.
















Marquise Casati






Simply reimposing the image for three pairs of eyes creates an otherworldly effect.










Dora Maar


Partially solarized, except the hand and face.

< Note the pair of amputated hands.
Tears


False tears from a true manniquin. Again there is deep significance to a simple manipulation.










Le Monde (The World)






A rayograph coupled with a photo. Great contrasts.










Profile and Hands





Solarization effect dramatically alters the original photograph.


These were all by Man Ray, this last one is another perfect example of manipulation by Duchamp.



L.H.O.O.Q.


A cheap reproduction of the Mona Lisa with a mustache drawn on. The title roughly means to say she has a hot ass. The statement is one of perverted beauty.