This composition excerpt (< 3 minutes) is from a ~ 22 minute composition exploring a visual interpretation of the broad concept of personal space.
As I learn about the anatomy and the biochemical “magic” that occurs inside and among the nerve cells of our brains, along the spinal chord, and throughout the body, I create artwork that resonates with what I learn. Its never meant as a diagram or a scientific illustration per se but rather as an homage to the known and the unknown neurochemistry that is at play in our sentience.
This clip shows about a minute of a rotating slideshow which includes images form my 2D portfolio. All images shown in various configurations on the screen are randomly organized purely for display and review purposes. Its one way to help visitors understand the style, variety, cohesion, and scale of works available for display and for collecting. This is only a small subset of the many images I’ve produced as 2D extractions from time-based video art projects. The bulk of the images shown in this clip are from an ongoing artistic exploration of the wonders of the neuron. These are not intended as strict illustrations but rather a visual appreciation and exploration of what we know and what we don’t know (yet) about how these amazing cells function, both internally and as part of a vast network of similar cells, to form our sentience and our identity.
Please reach out to me if you have questions or leave any questions or comments here on the blog.
Exhibited at MAP (Maryland Art Place, Baltimore, MD). Digital still (from video) print, 7-color on aluminum/dibond. 18″ x 32″
http://www.mdartplace.org/exhibitions
This artwork is produced as an edition of one (1/1). It is a digital 7-color print on an aluminum base, with a 0.12” Dibond backing. This image will not be reproduced in any form. It is derived from a series of video artworks exploring human neurobiology. Each neuron in our body (there are over 80 billion) consists primarily of a cell body (or soma), a nucleus, an axon (for outgoing signals) and one or more dendrites (for incoming signals). Neurochemical activity in the soma activates an electrochemical process whereby an electrical pulse (or action potential) travels the axon from the soma to the axon terminal (and synapse). When the potential reaches the synapse (near instantaneously) the electrochemical signal is translated, without contact, through neurotransmitter chemicals to the dendritic receptors of other neurons, cells, or tissues of the body. This incoming signal may be similarly transmitted from the receptors along dendritic channels to the soma of other neurons for further processing. This process, repeated at near lightning speeds, continuously, and system-wide, forms the neurologic wonder of our sentience—all that we think, feel, dream, see, hear, and experience.
The series from which this image is derived is not intended as an illustration of a neuron (though there are structural similarities), but as the product of my curiosity and wonder as I learn how our neurobiology forms awareness, consciousness, and subconsciousness. The bio-architecture of our neurons and the manner in which they function (or, in the case of disease or injury, malfunction), is of great interest to me and forms the inspiration for my 2D and time-based work.
2D work selected to be part of the
Second Tri-Annual Maryland State Artist Registry Juried Exhibition
Show open Thursday, September 19th – Sunday, November 10th
Reception: Thursday, September 19th 6-9pm
Narrative Threads (excerpt below) continues screening through July 27 at IA&A @ Hillyer in Washington D.C.
I just went to see Narrative Threads…Alan, I am so impressed (though not surprised) … I was so moved— it felt tortured and exhilarating at once.
—viewer comment
There are narrative threads that bind us, those that unite us, and those that obscure our inner selves. These threads run through our psyche and impact our perceptions and how we are perceived. Those threads that bind us help us feel whole and secure. Help us feel in control and in command of our destiny. Those narrative threads that obscure our inner desires and our inherent rules for behavior tend to make us suspicious, untrusting, feel vulnerable and alone. These threads coexist and interact with each other, sometimes strengthening confidence, and sometimes weakening it. This art is homage to those threads. Threads of sexuality, disability, logic, intelligence, fear, loss, hopelessness, hope, biology and psychology, pride, happiness, joy, anger, and pain. My pieces, each of interest to me for what they represent alone, are merged, juxtaposed, layered, and each changes the layers above and below in time. This is an allegory to my experience of life and living and struggling and loving and feeling and thinking.
