Backlit illumination, swiping and other tactile manoeuvres of digital devices >>>>>

In his article, Surface, Image, Reception: Painting in a Digital Age, Alex Bacon draws attention to the similarity between the swipe marks our greasy fingers leave on touchscreens, and the gesturalism of Abstract Expressionists like Willem de Kooning and Joan Mitchell. I find this analogy so profound –these visceral traces on illuminated flatscreens –with traces of our DNA –become a new point of departure.

And it also invites questioning the other aspect of backlit technology –how chromatic vibrancy is so over-reached on these devices –has this affected our ocular spectrum of expectation?

This has formed a large part of my studio research over the last two years….

 

The time of process >>>>

Christine Macel, Director of the current 57th Venice Biennale, has written a book “Time Taken”
in which she sheds light on the little Latin word, ‘otium’.

‘’otium…. implies a space for free time, for inactivity and availability, a space of productive idleness and mind work, of quietness and action, a space where the work of art comes to be.

Whilst reading this book, I realized how vital this space>time is for me within my practice. To a greater extent it’s largely invisible, and often, with no realization of a finished work.
So under the radar of STUDIO RESEARCH, I hope to shed some light on the somewhat frenetic“flow of continuous mutations” integral to my process.