STATEMENT
My conceptual pursuits center on the inexplicable. Humans question in order
to find satisfaction in learning and understanding. This is how we develop
as children and also how we progress as a society. Answerable questions
become building blocks for more sophisticated questions, which eventually
lead to reasonable solutions. Earlier solutions remain relevant only in
a historical sense. Above all, the most ubiquitous questions are those that
can never be definitively answered. These are woven into the fabric of our
culture and become the basis for such uniquely human pursuits as religion,
ethics, philosophy, politics, and science. For many, the very act of enquiry
is a sublime process.
My work attempts to identify and exemplify many of the more inscrutable
mysteries of everyday life. I hope to distinguish common threads of recognition
and understanding in order to exploit those associations, thus leaving the
viewer with a number of open-ended questions. Our lives are not logically
linear, there is seldom closure, and rarely is there a clear-cut answer
to life’s next critical issue. These qualities might lead to frustration,
but being on the edge of decision is more stimulating and probably more
meaningful than retrospection.
Just as I am determined to avoid didacticism in my work, I feel a responsibility
to encourage certain interpretations by guiding viewers through specific
narratives. Interiors become “deja vu” spaces, along with a
false sense of security. My symbols may only symbolize symbols, but they
imply great meaning and proffer intellectual emotion. Objects assimilate
human qualities, including distinctive quirks and foibles. A sense of threat
often seems imminent, but never really materializes. Humor is present, but
it is not clear how or why. Some aspects of these veritable enigmas make
total sense while others do not, just as most “real life” experience
unfolds illogically. Like in poetry, there are as many interpretations as
there are readers; none totally correct, none totally incorrect, all valid
in that the search for understanding becomes the creative act. Bewilderment
can function as a valid aesthetic experience.
Because of these concerns, my work continues to remain visually objective
and conceptually narrative. In the beginning, the challenge to create narratives
within still images was met by finding scenarios that could be likened to
a phrase or sentence, as if from the middle of a much larger story. Later,
I found that a longer time line could actually be generated be physically
constructing miniature environments, sequenced and kinetically active with
motors and lights. Now I have found digital animation an answer to more
extended narrative goals.
My educational background was focussed on the fine arts of drawing and printmaking.
Encouraged in these areas as a student, I became deeply involved in the
process of craft as a vehicle for expression. It is my nature to invest
large amounts of time and to use a great number of processes as a program
for refined solution. For years, I used two-dimensional space as a place
to employ realism in an ongoing description of this unreal world. Theories
of linear perspective were just one set of tools employed in an effort to
build believability, yet the need to expand this world into the dimension
of time became more important.
Not dexterous enough to render thousands of pages of hand drawn animation,
I struck on the notion of creating miniature environments and began the
first in a series of twenty-six constructions built over twenty-four years.
Each fifteen-inch cube in the series contained a realistic, miniaturized
room interior, created at a scale of about one inch to one foot. Except
for titles on the outside, the pieces were all identical, giving no clues
to the scenes contained within. Lights and motors activated by the viewer
from a switch at the top of the piece animated unusual scenarios placed
in commonplace settings, such as a bedroom or a basement. A single peephole
allowed composition and organization as in two-dimensional work, yet three
dimensions heightened realism and drama.
In the mid 1990s, I became aware of three-dimensional modeling and animation
software. With no intention of replacing my current media, I saw a potential
in the creation of perspective underlays for my drawings, a time consuming
process when done by hand. I soon became engaged with the 3D modeling process
and saw the possibilities for generating complete, rendered images. Though
the application’s tools were “virtual,” they clearly paralleled
real world tools and construction processes. I approached these digital
works with the intention of only creating still images, in a sense replacing
the hand drawn prints and drawings. Considerable time was spent in the research
of consistency and archival issues of ink jet printing in an effort to apply
traditional notions appropriate to the printmaking aesthetic. I created
thirty-four of these limited edition prints, over nine years time.
In 2002, I finally felt prepared to begin animation using this three-dimensional
digital medium, and it remains my current mode of expression. Now I am able
to create a facsimile of reality that extends the visual narrative temporally,
coupled with considerable visual veracity. It is a medium limited only by
skill and imagination. Years of composing still images encourages me to
see each frame, or point in time, as a discreet visual statement that might
exist on it’s own merit. Having always been engaged with process,
I am willing to invest generous amounts of time in the satisfaction of this
refinement. Just as a craftsman becomes enamored with tools and materials,
I am fascinated with the tools within the software application, never feeling
I will quite master them all yet willing to give it a try. This medium also
allows me to add the important element of sound. Earlier experience with
music recording prepared me for concepts, techniques and nuances of audio
manipulation. This synthesis of dynamic visual imagery and sound is a force
that defines contemporary media. I have now completed a number of animated
narratives and have never been more excited about my work.
Contrary to some misconceptions, the process is quite time consuming. “The
Realm of Possibility” (2009), took eight months to complete. Hundreds
of hours of creation time can be added to hundreds of hours of computer
processing time, all directed toward the result of less than ten minutes
of animation, but for me, every minute gratifying. I see this process as
a kind of distillation of creative intention and energy with an end result
that indicates completion to the very best of my own ability. Though I enjoy
the challenge of an extended project, it is comforting to see the scrolling
rows and columns of individuals needed in the production of any feature
length commercial animation.
Most three-dimensional computer animation seems to exist in the categories
of Hollywood special effects, science fiction, cartoons, gaming, advertising
or rather narrow niches of popular culture. The ability to bring a fine
art background to a medium which has great potential for meaningful expression
places me in a rather unique position to challenge stereotypes, create legitimacy,
and add to the artist’s list of potentially expressive media. Other
professional animation work with which I compete is remarkably technical,
due to greater resources of time and economics, but my successes have proven
that content and originality are, as always, a most valuable commodity in
art. My animation, “The Whole Truth,” was included in the 2008
Prix Ars Electronica international festival of arts and new media in Linz,
Austria. This work competed with and screened along side work from large
production houses such as Sony Imageworks, Framestore, Beijing Film Academy,
Supinfocom, Gobelins/Talantis Films, and others.
Because the professional promotion of this medium differs considerably with
past museum and gallery experience, the film festival venue has proven to
be a credible alternative for distribution, accreditation and critical response.
I have become more familiar with the independent film industry and the prestigious
festivals promoting those filmmakers. “The Whole Truth” (2009),
has won a number of awards and has been included in twenty festivals to
date. These festivals represent regional, national and international venues.
Starting my career as a printmaker was partially based on the appealing
notion that many people could share one visual statement. Sharing digital
work is now a worldwide reality. This intersects with my goal to affect
as many people as possible by creating work with an accessible artifice.
Presumably, an artifice that falls away to encourage speculation, reflection
and insight.
As my work evolves, I will continue to investigate the mysteries of human
experience, yet would be very surprised to find any final answers.