I once had a teacher who stressed that how you see is what you should paint. This idea contains a problem: at the foundation of experience is the fact that it’s in constant flux, whereas paint is a static medium.
I’d long been interested in the music of John Cage, who used chance to frame listeners’ sense of expectation. I later became interested in the close observation of (the experience of) time by people like Heidegger, Deleuze and Lyotard.
I began to wonder if by incorporating randomization of the thing observed, plus randomized playback of a painting’s progress, it would be possible to create something resembling the close observation of the passage of time–in paint.
I developed a procedure whereby chance determined which part of a painting I should work on. The painting’s progress was then recorded and played back in random order using Unreal Engine. This randomized playback created a feedback loop with the painting, informing its direction, distilling out the aesthetic effect of what it is to observe the passage of time.
The painting is still in process, but here’s how it stands today.
Click the image to see the animation version (also in progress).
One of the nice things about randomized playback is the fact that the playback can go on forever. So far, I’ve created 3 different versions (or stages), each of which emphasizes a different aspect of the experience I’m trying to convey. The stages can be sampled below.
To view the actual project in its current state: click on the link below, download all the contents and then double-click on the file “MyProject4.exe” Right now, the project only works on Windows.