New Eyes

New Eyes: Six artists explore the collection and reflect on the creative process.

I recently went to an exhibition at the Towner Gallery to view this collection. My friend was one of the six artist's that took part in choosing the work, so it was really interesting to see if I could guess what she had chosen. I did mostly which was quite weird. If only guessing her chosen artworks was like doing the lottery :-)

One of the pieces was by Mariele Neudecker which I loved. It appeared to be miniature landscape in a glass tank, that was filled with a solution, giving the appearance of intense fog. I was told that the fog effect had gradually transformed. This reminded me in some ways of Hans Haacke's Condensation Cube, and upon seeing this it gave me an idea. Since my not quite so waterproof camcorder anymore appears to mist up gradually, it made me think that it would be interesting to experiment with its malfunction before trying to fix the problem :-)

This is an brill exhibition, see text below for info.

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes – Marcel Proust.


Through Towner’s partnership with Bluemonkeynet, an artist network based in Eastbourne, six artists have been given the unique opportunity to get to know our collection and curate an exhibition at Towner.


A painter, a printmaker, a sculptor, a photographer, a ceramicist and an installation artist, the group reflects the breadth of contemporary artistic 
practice locally. 


Inspired by the Marcel Proust quote, they followed their own voyage of discovery to create a diverse display that leads the visitor on a journey into the collection, its artists and their processes. The exhibition includes etchings by Picasso, teacup designs and woodblocks by Eric Ravilious and a film piece by Tacita Dean, whose work is currently on display in Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall. 


Also on display are works by founder of the British pop art movement Eduardo 
Paolozzi, Turner Prize winner Grayson Perry, ceramics by Quentin Bell and 
much more. 


The works on show range from painting and printmaking to ceramics and 
photography – all selected from Towner’s internationally renowned permanent 
collection.


For link to website click here

Abstract for research paper

Generative Art: Exploring  how this process simulates nature, and if this method is essential to the meaning of the artist's work? Looking at works through Joseph Nechvatal, Philip Galanter, Shardcore and Sam Hewitt.


Abstract


This paper will be looking at a brief history of Generative Art, and some of the various methods.  The main areas of focus will be exploring how this process simulates nature by discussing chaos theory and its relationship to specific styles using this approach. Along with discovering if using a generative process has been essential to the meaning within the artists work? Looking at works through the featured artists and theorists, via interviews collected by the author predominantly for this paper; in conjunction with exploring ideas by leading writers in this field.

While  generative art can be utilized as a process or  tool. I hope this paper will express how it can also be a fundamental element that artist's employ, thus expressing how generative methods can hold the essence and meaning within the artwork.

Random Thoughts

I haven't started writing my paper yet, must admit I've been slightly side tracked lately. I've been reading various books kind of linked to my subject. Just recently I found myself reading a book about chaos theory and intoxication that left my thoughts pondering about RNA and DNA. Which came first? Could they both have emerged at the same time even? This somehow got me thinking about the isomorphs in the film Tron Legacy. I loved the idea of the isomorphs existence, they were unique and generated naturally out of the digital world of Flynn's creation, but did Clu hunt them down deliberately to leave one, knowing Flynn would protect her? Ouorra was the last remaining isomorph and later on in the film she got captured by Clu and he didn't kill her immediately, Why? Well the first time I watched this I assumed it was because he could use her to lure Flynn, but upon thinking about this again. I thought that Clu could have disguised himself, or imprinted himself inside Quorra to get out of the portal and it was all a cunning plan. Well this may not seem like it has much to do with my essay having different ideas to the ending of Tron Legacy and thinking about DNA, etc but somehow it has aided my focus, and I feel nearly ready to start writing soon :-)

Seven Sisters

This week I went to the Seven Sisters County Park specifically to video for my studio practise, but my camcorder broke when I got there! Well it isn't completely broken, it seems to work for approx 10 minutes before the lens mists up, and then it needs to be turned it off to de-mist which takes about 30 minutes before I can start filming again. This was so annoying that I ended up mainly taking photos for my visual research.

Below are a selection of the photos that I took instead. It's so beautiful at the Seven Sisters, apparently this was the last day of summer weather for this year  :-(

Drift Line Sand Patterns.

Although I've mainly been filming natural generated elements of nature, this is the first time that I managed to capture distinct transient pattern formations which are clearly visible in a linear fashion.

While I previously have been experimenting colourising and adding more visual effects afterwards, I didn't do that with this video. I  played around with the audio and added sound effects, but I found the focus on the visuals quite captivating without no sound.




I think it's fascinating that drift line sand patterns are quite similar to patterns found in the desert, only the patterns in the desert occur without the tides of the ocean waves. These patterns also appear more vein like towards the end of the video. This also coincides with an earlier post exploring the ideas of a mathematician called Benoit Mandelbrot:  Looking at how natural fractals in the world form the shapes of mountains, coastlines and river basins; the structures of plants, blood vessels and lungs. Click here for the link to that post.

Below are some photos that I also took on the same day. At the moment I now feel that my visual research is becoming very similar to my studio practise.

Sunset

I took these sunset photos as I noticed the clouds looked quite unusual. They reminded me of clouds in Chinese paintings.

Data is Nature

Last night I went to see Data is Nature at the Pavilion Theatre. This was curated by Lighthouse to mark the end of this year's Brighton Digital Festival.

This brilliant line-up of audio-visual performers translate nature into immersive digital experiences. Data is Nature features the Brighton premiere of Natures by renowned musician Mira Calix and visual artist Quayola. In this performance, the organic behaviours of plants become part of an audio-visual world where the natural and the artificial coexist harmoniously. 


Data is Nature also includes Paul Prudence, a London-based musician and visual artist, known for his stunning audio-visual performances, which use data visualisation and generative techniques to give us striking new views of nature. Lighthouse


While I found Mira Calix and Quayola's performance to be intriguing, this definitely didn't express to me a harmonious link between the natural and the artificial coexisting.  From this performance I only felt the tension between the two, but having said that this was about exploring new way of seeing things.

Click here for link to Paul Prudence's blog, it's very interesting :-)