electricity
The power of symmetry as applied to wires in an Internet service provider's warehouse. Digital photo collage, 2018. Looks like a Grotjahn painting
Several other games with photo collage symmetry, including intriguing comparisons to Pacific Northwest art and a self-portrait of Leigh Bowery
The Electrical Engineer, 2018. Watercolor on joined paper, 30" x 33"
Video documentation of "Bluebird with cricket," 2018. Watercolor and analog electronics on paper, 15" x 15" x 1.5"
Note that the breadboard visible in the video is unrelated to the piece - I am just using it as a convenient source of 12V DC. The other circuits in the breadboard are in-development for other works of art.
Bluebird with cricket, 2018. Watercolor and analog electronics on paper, 15" x 15" x 1.5"
The colors of this photograph are truer than the video, but still not as vibrant as the actual work. I used cobalt and manganese blue, both of which have such an electric quality.
Bluebird from a work in progress, 2018. Watercolor and pencil on paper
The Nagual, 2018. Watercolor sketch on paper
I've recently read seven of Carlos Castenada's books (about to start book eight). They're packed full of content for artists, especially Don Juan's concept of "seeing" and the nagual (as contrasted with the tonal). This image makes me think of Don Genaro and the miraculous dreaming stunts that he performed to try to awaken thick-headed Carlos. Genaro was a live wire to be sure.
Hawk got its own cry, 2018. Analog electronics and watercolor on paper, 11" x 15". I've been looking back at The Parallel Series (2012), and I've got some unfinished ideas that I plan to work with in 2018... hence this little study. The sound made by the hawk comes from the simple analog electronic circuit that its "holding." (Turn your sound on.) #contemporaryart #electronic #circuit#nature #watercolor
The psychological development of a child raised by electronic devices, 2018.
Watercolor on paper, 15" x 18"
The children born into recent generations have an intimate relationship with machine intelligence. Technology is not a mere instrument of mankind -- it shapes our identity, and machine intelligence is influencing consciousness like never before. Computer-mitigated experience may be artificial, but it is no less "real" to the mind than natural phenomena. Computers have infiltrated the inner sanctum of human beingness. Arguably, our sanity is more vulnerable to Grid failure than our physical survival. As for whatever legacy endures beyond this fragile time in history, imagine the incredulity of future generations. Our stories will seem as far-fetched as flying saucers in the Hindu Vedas. What ordinary Earthling would believe that humans could encode intelligence on a silicon wafer the size of a flea, let alone sculpt the genome of living organisms?
What’s sad about this image is the replacement of ancient archetypes (the sun, for example) with archetypes that will not last (the light emitting diode, for example). Every generation and even civilizations are destined to die, but the archetypes have remained for thousands of years and united us with our ancestors. Our connection to this continuum of human meaning is profoundly comforting and is the basis of human identity (i.e., Joseph Campbell). When a civilization departs from natural, timeless archetypes and adopts symbols that depend upon man’s current technologies, then the loss is infinitely greater — our symbols will perish, and there will be a break in the story of human history.
Astable multivibrator with big blinkers (can't touch this woman), 2018. Watercolor sketch on joined paper.
