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V I S I O N S
T E C H N O M Y S T I C
P A R A D I G M
W E B S I T E S
P O R T F O L I O
R E S U M E
© Copyright 1997 Denise Urban
An Extension of Vision / Assembling Fragments of Pixel Light
The human eye is a superb instrument, able to differentiate between subtle shades of color, to function in murky places, to register depth and to measure movement. Yet the eyes can only perceive electromagnetic energy, which we call visible light. To other forms of light as heat and x-rays, man is blind. The eye is quick enough to follow an individual running yet is blind to the beat of a hummingbird’s wing.
The "metaphysical" pixel frees man from such limitations of his ability to see. By going where the eye cannot go and sensing what the eye cannot see, the pixel has become an indispensible tool for investigating the natural world. Assembling these minute fragments of light is an art that can be pursued at many levels, each offering its own rewards. Not only can these pixels peer inward, revealing fine matter but, uniquely assembled and shifted,
can help to alter our boundaries of the real world.
So much of what an artist does is a product of intuition and experience which comes largely from unconscious or a least semi-conscious levels that it cannot be easily analyzed. An artistês own private methods and processes, developed over the years, have little to do with the verbalized consciousness, they dwell, so to speak in the "vision." Therefore much of the business of digitally manipulating a canvas is "shifting" the pixels of light about in the hope of getting nearer to the mental images. This assembly is a mysterious process. How is it possible to put into words the continual interplay that goes on between the subject and the artist? There is a seduction of the original idea which is retained, a primary strong reaction to the subject matter that emanates from deep, unconscious levels.
The digital artist who manipulates these minute pixels cannot be separated from the essential impetuous of their creation. This "medium of the pixel light" in which their object stands, reflects, or is bathed by defines clearly for the viewer a particular alchemy that has occupied artists throughout time and will for all we know,continue to keep them engaged for a few more centuries.