SK-02 Roma

SK-02 Roma, 2017
Programming, video, sound, sculpture, drawing, serigraphy

This is part of an ongoing series of experiments that use variations in black materials to create nonobjective imagery. In the example below an abstract video was created by filtering a solid black .jpeg file through various video compression codexes, which caused the artifacts and distortions that are seen as changing shapes of color.

The project also includes a number of drawings using black materials that are based on the patterns that emerge from low quality video. I started working with these ideas while I was living and working in Italy; I was struck by the frustrating cliché of the Italian environment providing a “beautiful” backdrop for artistic creation. In my experience the light and aesthetic of Rome was a caustic distraction, an inconvenient drain on my senses that provided no inspiration, but rather a distinct desire to block it out. I decided to work with all-black composition as a type of antithesis to the corrupt expectation of the Roman studio.

The dish form in the piece was initially inspired by the use of acoustic reflectors, large concrete structures that were used to focus and amplify sound for military surveillance before the advent of radar. The version pictured on the previous page combines drawings and prints derived from the video experiment with an audio sculpture that creates a feedback loop of sound in the space.