Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Artist Post #3

Pascal Dombis 

"Topo"

Born in 1965, Pascal Dombis is a digital artist who uses computers and algorithms to create the images of repeating and complex designs from algorithm rules. Thus, his pieces are never planned, he just lets the algorithms go through a series of interactions. Typically, no piece would exactly be the same because the algorithms produce unpredictable results. He gained a engineering degree from Insa University but he also spent a year at Tufts University studying computer art classes, starting his usage of algorithms in his art. At first, he only used simplistic rules, like a straight line, but then he started to use digital help to create these abstract and wild works. Now, he lives and works in Paris.
"Eurasia
Dombis' works evoke a struggle between the orderly control of simple rules and the randomness that follows when the rules are put together. Anyway the piece ends up, it always is visually stunning and stimulating because the eye is constantly moving through out the work. In the series that "Topo" is from, Dombis focused on the idea of opening and closing geometric shapes. Continually adding more and more curves, the pieces evolved into out of control hyper structures that were integrated to look like architectural structures. 

In the series "Eurasia", Dombis wanted to convey how the internet is a major contributor to how we perceive the world, so he put together Google search image results of the words red, blue, black and white into a digital collage. The two halves compare the results from European and Asian Google pages and the collage comes together with the help of a random algorithm. The perspective changes and which side is which is determined by the viewer, but there is a clear distinction between the motives of both halves. Also, the movement of the piece helps attract the viewer and makes them stay interested. 

All in all, I really find Pascal's works to be really interesting and awesome. The idea that someone can take a simple algorithm and turn it into this complex and wild piece of art is astonishing. To make unpredictable work but to have it convey his message so successfully is inspiring because he doesn't know what the final project will look like. When I look at his work, I find myself thinking I'm lost in some crazy world trying to make sense of what is going on because he has set his work apart from others that give it such an original and unbelievable effect. Although Dombis is the one creating these pieces, the machine creates the rule but then the art work just goes on to create itself, taking on its own life per say. 

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