Update, and some Compressionism clarification etc.

I managed to fix the lock mechanism that was jamming up my scanner, so borrowing a few pages from Nathaniel’s compressionism I decided to indulge in some re-interpretation of how digital image recording technology should be used.

Nathaniel has some serious Compressionism exhibitions coming up, a preview show is up at outlet gallery. Details on his blog.

I want to be careful not to inadvertently detract from everything Nathaniel has invested in his Compressionism, especially as he is a really great guy. (Someone recently described him as being like a kid in a candy store � all the time. Me thinks is mostly true � as long as you imagine someone very bright, sophisticated with a straight forward startling interpersonal maturity � (which I suppose makes the allegory flop):)

So just for clarity sake, I’ve changed the ‘Compressionism’ tag that I was using here to ‘Aspect-orientations’, though it still contains ‘Compressionism’ as a synonym.

Our various approaches overlap in ways, and the fact is, were it not for him there’s no telling if I would ever have started using manual ‘performance’ scanning, in other words intervening and manipulating the time-space relationship between the scanner and subject matter.

In contrast to Nathaniel, I am manipulating the scanned object as opposed to manipulating the scanner over a surface. Especially since I’m working with a theme of ‘Instruments’ I like to think of this as playing the object into digital data format. At this stage the instruments that interest me are specifically older musical � especially stringed � instruments, hardware and information automation tools. (maybe I’m trying to counter pose arty, butch and geeky).

I’m also using a lot of superimposition, often with layers counting high into double digits that I then typically mathematically average, though the past few have only been two or three exposures deep.

I don�t do any manual colouring apart from digitally enhancing contrasts, sometimes � though vary rarely – I’ll optimise the individual colour channel levels � but typically part of the point of what I’m trying to achieve is to ‘paint’ with the recorded data as a whole. So where I once used to use the recorded image information to define selections of image to be independently edited I now edit the entire layer or not at all.

(because of the way I’m doing this the glass plate on my scanner is picking up a lot of dammage – and envery piece shows more scratches and flecks if you look up close at pixel level (working at 600 dpi) but this goes with the theme and ad is appealing to the anti sleek-graphic-design-anal-perfection mentality that I just may be reacting against – but I didn’t say that)

I have also started working on transposing the scanner based technique to digital camera and Guitar 2 is the first satisfactory success I’ve had with this.

I am hell bent on putting up a show by the end of this year � possibly at The Premises if they’ll accept me and my work. Apparently the way to go about it is to approach galleries with a proposal � God admin just follows one everywhere doesn’t it! � so I have started putting something together under the title/theme Quidity and am having so prints produced. My natural inclination is probably to show the scope of what I do, but various knowledgeable sources have convinced me of the wisdom of establishing a strong coherence in the work of a debut show so I’m trying my damdest to reduce all the threads of my labyrinthine output under the single theme of the ‘uncertainty of beingness’ � (which I suppose may sound a bit old-fashioned, but hey I’ve been re-reading Descarte and Plato, what do you expect � at least its all digital and the methodology is a relatively progressive subversive engagement with computational technology, practically and theoretically � feel free to look up the ‘aspect orientation’ program design paradigm) – then the idea is/was to have three kinds of work, namely multiple perspective photo portraits, inanimate objects and pure graphic abstractions. I suspect I’m going to ditch the abstractions for this show, except perhaps for 2 or 3 really sentimental/unique pieces like d.embrace. I feel much more confident about the level of abstraction and aesthetic merit of the portraiture and objects � while the pixelscapes feel perhaps just a bit to close to traditional graphic design.

The big question to answer s of course whether I’ll be able to afford putting up a satisfactory show � I’m leaning towards making it all lambda prints that plus all the framing and gallery costs etc. is down right scary, but spread over 6 months should be do-able. Thank God for day-jobs.

PS. I would love to know why I am getting so many visitors from Japan all of a sudden?!