Artist Statement

Natural order infuses several levels of both worlds: some determined by man and some determined by nature. It guides our understanding of big data sets related to network analysis, whether we employ physical analogies of the data, render the data graphically and explore them ‘by eye’ or interact in real time. Acutely aware of order, I examine what technological and human worlds have in common. Natural order, revealed randomly and regularly, infuses several levels of both worlds. My task is to juxtapose the regularity of nature with man's constructions, both physical and intellectual. The big city images, for example, combine how humans affect their environment, and at the same time, how a city metaphor reflects rhythm and organization of big data sets, and makes data mining easier. Observers — whether artists or technology experts — perceive such relationships from different perspectives and points of view.

I aim to develop messages using sets of images that become symbols, in a way similar to the sets of words constructing sentences. Same images gain different meaning in various contexts.

My computer graphics explorations serve as a point of departure for a series of prints or sculptures. I explore the dynamic factor of line. I transform an image of an animal into a simple image, an iconic object such as rocking horse or a symbolic picture of a bird, to present them in dynamic movement as the visible texture of the sky and the ground. In our visual planes of multiple horizons, every time we see the familiar image on the floor of ground and the wall of sky, soft and hard inhabitants sharing lots and acres; we see them as having common goals, and joining tasks.

Some of these explorations have resulted in figurative three-dimensional designs based on an image of transformed manikin that served as a point of departure for a prints and sculptures. The repetition of human figures, depersonalized for the purpose of fulfilling the goal, has been put into the ordered, endless landscape. I have unified the meaning of human and a landscape using the same approach: rigid order created with a computer.

Processes in nature and events in technology inspire my images. Such processes also support my instruction in computer art and graphics, where students learn to create artwork inspired by science and demonstrate what they understand of scientific concepts.

Technical Statement

Typically, my creation process runs through several stages. First I draw abstract geometric designs for executing my computer programs. I use the computer on different levels. Some of my computer programs produce two dimensional images; others are three — depending on my composition's final dictates. Then I add photographic content using scanners and digital cameras. The programs that produce two-dimensional artwork serve as a point of departure for photolithographs and photo silkscreened prints on canvas and paper. They are included both into my two-dimensional and three-dimensional works. All of these approaches are combined for image creation with the use of painterly markings.

For three-dimensional works, computer programs make representations of masses in a vector mode that shape my wooden and mixed media sculptures. Later, the 3D wireframe designs guide construction of wooden and mixed media sculptures. I often incorporate the factor of time into the sculpture, giving the viewer the illusion of movement. I also develop time-based media.

A Summary

Generative art results in precise images with perfect lines that follow premeditated transformations. I started working with computers by programming, with a distant dumb terminal connected to the station via modem and a phone. I waited two hours for b&w prints and three days for color slides. I remember loosing generations when working with film as an analog medium.

I could include color, shade, patterns, apply clipping algorithms, rotate and paste content into other images, zoom and transform. Then, photosilkscreen and photolithograph gave me a new level of color combinations, and the messiness of paint. Movies involved the fourth dimension. Through the use of software I can recycle drawings along with generative shapes and patterns.

I transform algorithmic images into physical constructions. Free of details images became synthetic expression of the figure. I also created sculptural forms in 3-D programs and used prototyping. In order to address the factor of time and add some explanatory power and dynamic storytelling, I present images along with related movies.

We can only change the distance when we look at the two-dimensional work, yet we can walk around the sculpture and explore the interactive character of time-based art. By adding action inside the surface of the image, I hope to attain another level of possible connotations and interpretations. The next stage – combining it all together and adding painterly marking – became fully digital.

In my works, natural order infuses several levels of both worlds: some determined by man and some determined by nature. It guides our understanding of big data sets related to network analysis, whether we employ physical analogies of the data, render the data graphically, or interact in real time. Acutely aware of natural order that infuses both worlds, I examine what technological and human worlds have in common. My task is to juxtapose the regularity of nature with man's constructions, both physical and intellectual.

The digital factor of all these media creates even more opportunities for the contemporary digital art. For movies, web, and animations, 3-D forms need to be flattened and presented as 2-D frames or pages, thus analog becomes digital.