The matter still matters
Corps-Cosmos, by Antoine Schmitt and Azuza Kurokawa. A picture, even more a picture on the web, is unable to render the richness of such a work : matter matters !
Looking to digital art only through the Web lens maybe deceptive. We had writen our post about Thomas Israel mainly after a surf and some memories of his former expositions at Galerie Charlot. We got the real thing at the preview opening. The works presented are all typical at what Valérie Hasson-Benillouche promotes : a combination of generative art, mainly video, with carefully selected or crafted material onto which project it.
Visits to other Parisian galleries, opening for the new school year, confirmed the conviction that matter still matters.
A striking example is given by Corps-Cosmos, exposed within the the Erocosmos show. Here also, generative art (by Antoine Schmitt) is projected on matter, actually a painting by Azusa Kurokawa. The combination is explosive. The minimalist and abstract, white on black, pixels of Schmitt gain texture and color from the rich matter of the painting. And the painting of Kurokawa, indeed bright and lively by itself, jumps into a fireworks play.
Actually, explains Schmitt (our translation) : "Whe have followed an unusual work process. First we talked about the topic : body and cosmos ; the body as cosmos; or the body related to cosmos. Our exchange was centered on the concept of vital energy, linked with the Chinese Qi. Then I have created an ad hoc software and used it to compose a mesh of forces, perceived as moves of pixels drawn by these forces. Then Azusa has projected this mobile mesh on a blank canvas, and painted uder the pixels, in relation to them, in a free and improvised way. She has used oil and acrylics, but also feathers, torn papers, cloth pieces and other material.
Well, the matter stil matters. We had noted that during Siggraph 2006, but perhaps a little forgotten. Israel, Schmitt and Kurokawa confirm it six years later. Similar considerations are called by music and body , as appeared in a session of Dorkbot in La Gaité Lyrique (see our blog). That reinforces our conviction that cooperation beween artists is necessary to reach really captivating digital works. But that's another issue we shall comment later.