Artist
Statement
My practice considers the impact of technology on the process of painting. In my ongoing Soft Body Dynamics series, twisting, tubular forms are systematically created using generative 3D modelling software. In a sort of automated line drawing technique, the software randomly generates a set number of splines per day, from which I select to create final compositions which are painted by hand using oil on canvas. By embracing new digital means of reading space and content, the works draw attention to the ever-changing relationship between the human body and digital technology.
The Soft Body Dynamics series is equally a formal investigation into abstraction. Computer assisted abstraction prompts inquiries surrounding the fundamental nature of the line, the stroke, the gesture, and the artist’s hand. Hinting at networked reality, abstraction reveals many underlying truths about life, about the logic and order of things. Similar to Mondrian’s conviction that the fundamental hidden rhythm of reality could be reduced to horizontal and vertical lines, my work insists that indeed, there is a rhythm, but it is utterly wiggly.
Since 2022 I have also been working on a series called the Gaze Paintings. In contrast to my regular working process, these paintings instead use data from eye-tracking software to directly visually map bezier curves. Eye tracking records subjective vision. In this case, my vision as I look upon canonical works by painters like Titian, Velázquez, Cabanel, and others. Throughout history, painterly tropes such as the reclining nude have been intensely tied to the male gaze. These works aim to subvert such traditions by mapping my own gaze and translating it into an abstract representation of viewership. By deepening visual pathways and penetrating beyond the flat surface of the picture plane, this process reveals some hidden internal logic unique to each work I gaze upon.