I have chosen artworks that explore the idea of hard edges: they open a dialogue on architecture, information, systemization, delineation, mapping and pixelization. These themes run parallel to many of the explorations of the Informatics Department, and are explored through a variety of media, including paintings, photographs, and textile work.
ARTWORKS:
Daniel Bayles
Dan Bayles
Untitled, 2007
5 1/2 x 6 1/2"
oil on canvas
Peter Park
Peter Park
Red Reflections, 2008
6 1/2 x 5 1/2"
acrylic and enamel on canvas
"I engage in freeing my invisible realities from bodily confinement by painting geometric abstractions. The pictures I make, like astral projections, become incorporeal experiences through the process of separating spirit from body; they make tangible a vision that may otherwise be inaccessible, in a reaction to how I interpret accelerating modernity and our rapidly developing world. I am heavily invested in experimenting with color, form and line in order to enhance the quality and accuracy of my ideas. I am dedicated to creating the illusion that mass and void are interchangeable.
These dynamic notions of mass and void struck me while studying construction and modern architecture both at home and abroad. As cities develop at a breakneck pace, structures that symbolize power, prosperity and competition are growing taller and being built more quickly than ever before. Accompanying these developments are the expansion of the tools used in their construction, specifically ever-taller cranes. I am intrigued by this excessive utility and the need for skyward expansion. Once, while sketching these cranes, I noticed that I was drawing optical illusions and that the shapes were similar to my own geometric arrangements. I believe that these abstruse illusions are created by the duality of the massive structure of the beams, and the void that is the empty space between the beams. I also observed the reflections produced on neighboring glass buildings, another product of the cranes. Glass windows arranged at a ninety-degree angle to each other create an optical phenomenon; reflections of reflections. Studying these images allows me to render the dimension containing a system of mirrored images that continuously changes form while maintaining congruity. I find this realm to be a composition of varying parts that contradicts space by creating the illusion that reflections are static, yet kinetic; flat, yet deep. This new universe fascinates me. I am committed to painting these deceptive perspectives, to painting the unreal and rendering it as real.
As perceptual abstractions, my paintings embody a dimension that is created through the reflection of glass; a facet of components constantly alternating and illusions that shatter perspective to create an evasive sense of depth. My paintings are visual puns that challenge the viewer to experience a phenomenological collapse and construct of architectural forms. Although these power structures may be representative of a civilization's capital, my paintings expose the transparency and destructibility of those skyscrapers.
While architecture is a salient influence, aerial views from airplanes and satellite imagery have inspired studies for geometric agricultural crops as well as grid locked patterns in urbanized topography. Developers are rapidly expanding outwards, exacerbating the inefficiencies of gentrification, creating social fragmentation through suburban sprawl and marooning individuals in isolation. My interest in cartography induced me to abstract maps to depict how the insatiable desires to globalize has eliminated wetlands and wild forests as a result of landscaping and pavement."
Belinda Vong
Belinda Vong
Self Portrait, 2008
Dimensions variable
thread, fabric
detail
Peter Park
Peter ParkRed Reflections, 2008
6 1/2 x 5 1/2"
acrylic and enamel on canvas
"I engage in freeing my invisible realities from bodily confinement by painting geometric abstractions. The pictures I make, like astral projections, become incorporeal experiences through the process of separating spirit from body; they make tangible a vision that may otherwise be inaccessible, in a reaction to how I interpret accelerating modernity and our rapidly developing world. I am heavily invested in experimenting with color, form and line in order to enhance the quality and accuracy of my ideas. I am dedicated to creating the illusion that mass and void are interchangeable.
These dynamic notions of mass and void struck me while studying construction and modern architecture both at home and abroad. As cities develop at a breakneck pace, structures that symbolize power, prosperity and competition are growing taller and being built more quickly than ever before. Accompanying these developments are the expansion of the tools used in their construction, specifically ever-taller cranes. I am intrigued by this excessive utility and the need for skyward expansion. Once, while sketching these cranes, I noticed that I was drawing optical illusions and that the shapes were similar to my own geometric arrangements. I believe that these abstruse illusions are created by the duality of the massive structure of the beams, and the void that is the empty space between the beams. I also observed the reflections produced on neighboring glass buildings, another product of the cranes. Glass windows arranged at a ninety-degree angle to each other create an optical phenomenon; reflections of reflections. Studying these images allows me to render the dimension containing a system of mirrored images that continuously changes form while maintaining congruity. I find this realm to be a composition of varying parts that contradicts space by creating the illusion that reflections are static, yet kinetic; flat, yet deep. This new universe fascinates me. I am committed to painting these deceptive perspectives, to painting the unreal and rendering it as real.
As perceptual abstractions, my paintings embody a dimension that is created through the reflection of glass; a facet of components constantly alternating and illusions that shatter perspective to create an evasive sense of depth. My paintings are visual puns that challenge the viewer to experience a phenomenological collapse and construct of architectural forms. Although these power structures may be representative of a civilization's capital, my paintings expose the transparency and destructibility of those skyscrapers.
While architecture is a salient influence, aerial views from airplanes and satellite imagery have inspired studies for geometric agricultural crops as well as grid locked patterns in urbanized topography. Developers are rapidly expanding outwards, exacerbating the inefficiencies of gentrification, creating social fragmentation through suburban sprawl and marooning individuals in isolation. My interest in cartography induced me to abstract maps to depict how the insatiable desires to globalize has eliminated wetlands and wild forests as a result of landscaping and pavement."
Belinda Vong
Belinda VongSelf Portrait, 2008
Dimensions variable
thread, fabric
detail
