HISTORY AS AN ARTIST, page 4

Expanding Explorations in digital imagery. 2003 on.

Beginning in 2003 I have been increasingly expanding my interests and activities in scanning and digitally collaging images. This has been aided by tremendous advances in the power and speed of computers and the progressive sophistication of software programs, particularly Adobe Photoshop. What I do now I could not have done even five years ago, and the pace of these changes just keeps increasing. And with it my excitement and pace of discovery grows.

In 2003 I changed my subject matter significantly. In earlier painting collages I had scanned some flowers and used these in several works. The thing I liked then and still like about flowers is the beauty of colors, incredible textures, and the fascinating organic shapes. As time went by I began to make a series of very dense and intricate collages, using a variety of flowers as subject matter. At the same time I used the power of Photoshop to create numerous layers, sometimes to reshape and resize the flowers, and frequently to change colors. One thing I had discovered all the way back when I started making color photographs in the 1980's is that I am at heart a colorist. I like and respond to strong colors, to contrasts of colors, and to harmonies of color. This is a feature in all my color work just as light and tonalities were my obsession with black and white photography.

Then in 2006 I made another shift where I still actively collaged layers of flowers but the overall effect became even more loose than before. Slowly I was moving toward abstraction as I became more aware that my vision had long been concerned with shapes, color, textures, patterns, and their organization within a picture field. Moreover I also started to create the images within a square rather than in a rectangle which to some is more of a photographic picture shape. But what I found is that a square offered much more possibilities for energizing the total work through juxtaposition with the four edges of the picture. Something about this seemed both more exciting and satisfying.

Byron Hot Springs, 1969

Abstractions, 2009

2008 has marked a shift in my work as an artist to abstraction, perhaps surprising to some, but not to me. As I began to look back on my career in the visual arts which covers almost 50 years I notice some similarities. When I began as a photographer in the late 1950's I photographed at several locations in California where I made black and white images that had a certain composition about them that seemed as much about abstract organization as about the place where the pictures were taken. These locations were Point Lobos CA, Byron Hot Springs CA near Sacramento, and White Sands NM.

What I have noticed lately is that I still like these images greatly because, first, they have an abstract organization to them that continues to satisfy me even today. In particular the picture of a broken window at Byron Hot Springs may show a broken window but the real importance for me is the abstract organization of broken glass and mullions. It holds my attention because of the organization of shades of white, gray and black. At the same time it expresses a feeling of decay that I found at Byron, but this is only in addition to the patterns of shapes that I saw and photographed there.

In the early part of 2008 I started on a daily regimen that has proved most effective for me as an artist. I began to get up at 5 AM in the morning and sat down at my computer to make images. I used Photoshop and decided to explore the drawing tools in the program which I had not used very much previously. My intention was to create abstractions which had recently caught my attention through looking at contemporary abstract painting. Also I decided not to start with any imported photograph or scanned image, but to create everything fresh using just Photoshop drawing tools.

What happened was extraordinary. As I worked with Photoshop I began to find new ways to make shapes and textures. Then keeping them in layers I moved them around until I had a composition that felt right. Then I would frequently create overlays using selections of pixels in existing layers, add changes using blending tools, and sometimes use lighting filters. The experience was exhilarating and felt totally freeing. It seemed as if I could respond to what was in front of me instantaneously to add or modify arrangements to get something exciting and very new to me.

As i did this on a daily basis, each morning, I often was able to complete a work on the computer. It soon occurred to me that if I were making a computer piece a day that I could have more than 300 in a years time. Now since beginning this regimen I have not created that number of works during the last year but the total number is closer to 200, a real prolific outpouring. Some of these are more exciting than others to me and seem to have more to them, but what I find is that there is a never ending number of variations and surprises of what I can create.

At the same time another variation has appeared offering an expanded richness. Earlier I related how in 1985 I spent a brief period creating works using a simple program that featured pixels in 16 colors, and this became my source for several bodies of work. Now in 2008 I began to remember these images and regain that interest in pixels. The thing is that I keep searching for those features that define digital imaging, that make it different from other media like painting, sculpture, and printmaking. As I think about it perhaps it is the pixel that defines digital imaging, that is the basic building block of this kind of artistic imaging.

So I have undertaken to create new works, still abstract, that feature pixels. What I do is to take images that I have on my computer and zoom in on these to a pixel level in Photoshop. Then I grab a copy of this, enhance the squares of pixels, and begin to select groups of colors that become layers on top of the original grabbed image of pixels. Moreover what I also do is start by searching and grabbing images from the internet of political or social personalities or events, zooming in and converting these into arrangements of pixels, and changing and enhancing these in numerous ways. I like and think it is important to make a connection to actual events or people because then the source of my works is contemporary history and culture. However in the end there is a translation into pixels and abstraction which takes it into another arena, that of abstract art.

Finally my exploration of abstraction continues as I experiment with new materials on which to print and push the boundaries of what I can do in the software. It seems that the possibilities are endless and grow daily.

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