Analog Pixels: Situational Experiments with Color Field Surfaces
01.22.2001
Experiments in creating physical pixels for use in installations, interactivity and situations.
These experiments in painted surfaces and LCD photos were begun at the end of my masters work at Rochester Institute of Technology. I was interested in creating flat painted surfaces that were devoid of brush strokes and photographs that were devoid of objects for use in gallery installations and creating public situations.
Painted Boxes
8″ x 8″ x 2″ boxes were constructed from luan and poplar. Backing frames were nailed and glued using a butt joint. Luan was attached to the top and tacked on with finishing nails that were counter-sunk. Wood putty filled the holes and the surfaces were sanded.
Tape was then attached tot he ‘edges’ of the surfaces. the tape in conjunction with the surfaces created a flat pan. Acrylic Enamel paint (car paint) was then ‘poured’ into this ‘pan’. The paint came off the surface from between 1/4″ and 1/2″ depending on the color used and the thickness of the paint. Paintings were left to dry for several weeks.
Once the paint was dry, the tape was removed and a table saw was used to create a flush edge between the surface and the backing frame. Surfaces were then ‘waxed’ such as a car would be waxed and the edges of the backing frames were painted neutral grey.
These paintings became analog pixels. Surfaces that simulated digital pixels in the physical environment. These ‘painted boxes’ were used in installations, interactivity and performances through out New York City in the spring of 2001.
LCD Photos
A color was chosen at random on the computer. The color was used as a ‘solid’ desktop color. All desktop icons were removed or hidden. A photograph using a film camera was taken of each displayed desktop color from the LCD screen. This was repeated 100 times each with a different color.
The film was processed and each photograph was printed. Printed photographs were cut to 8″ x 6″ and mounted behind glass backed with masonite. Backing ‘clips’ gave the mounted photos a dimension of 8″ x 6″ x 2″.
These photographs were used as rectangular ‘pixels’ in installations and interactive works in New York City in the summer of 2001.
Painted Canvases
Canvas squares were treated in the same fashion as the painted boxes. Squares were larger measuring 24″x24″. Squares were constructed with muslin on stretcher bars and gallery tucked and staples in the back. Acrylic paint was applied with a cloth. Metallic acrylics were used. Layers were applied, dried and lightly sanded resulting in an even smooth surface. Paintings were sealed with a acrylic gloss medium.
Where complete canvas squares were placed in the outside environment for 1 hour. All interactions with persons coming in contact with the paintings were recorded ‘voyeur’ style with a hidden DV camera.
Canvases were placed in and around the Manhattan area. This was performed several dozen times in places such as Manhattan Square Park, Columbia University and Riverside Park. All temporary installations were recorded. In addition to the painted canvases, painted boxes and LCD photos were also utilized.
These performances became a conversation between social bodies (those that interacted with the objects whether by touching them or avoiding them) and manufactured objects that represented the digital ‘pixel’. The ‘pixel’ became material (as opposed to virtual) and entered the physical environment.
With these works I was interested in how electronic and physical environments can merge – how boundaries and borders between different mediums can dissolve. I was also interested in the time and history of objects and temporary spaces – how one can create situational improvisations within the everyday. These situational creations can be subtle and to me it is in the subtleties and new creations and existences can synthesize.
I was very interested in the alteration of everyday routines and how social oscillations can temporarily be adjusted. As a jazz band may improvise off of each other, so too can artists and social, public streams create dialogue even at the simplest levels.
Analog Digital Mergers
Photographs were taken of specific ‘living’ environments – the interior of a Manhattan apartment. Photographs were juxtaposed with digital scans of the ‘painted boxes’. Photographs were mounted on 6″x4″ foam core surfaces. 24 photos in all were created and displayed.
Particular attention was paid to a single material present in the photograph – a strip of wood boarding, a single bathroom tile etc. This material was then ‘replaced’ with a ‘analog pixel’ that was digitized.
Again I was interested in the merging of two environments – the virtual and the ‘real’. How can these environments be manipulated? How can the materials be manipulated? How can one make simple changes to environments that have larger implications – both materialistically and theoretically?
These were some of the questions I was addressing in this series of projects.
