Matter still matters : Israel, Schmitt...
A web image cannot render the richness of such a "real", material work.[/caption]
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 Eroscosmos 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 canvas of Kurokawa, indeed bright and lively by itself, jumps into a fireworks play.
Actually, explains Schmitt (our translation) : "We 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 through the movements of the pixels caused by these forces. Then Azusa has projected this mobile mesh on a blank canvas, and painted under the pixels, in relation to them, in a free and improvised mood. 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 recent session of Dorkbot in La Gaité Lyrique. 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.
10/20/2012
DICCAN'S PARTNERS:
Paris ACM Siggraph, the French chapter of ACM Siggraph, worldwide non-profit organization of computer graphics.
Les Algoristes, an association of artists using their own algorithms in their work.
