Progressions

Finding the overlaps between digital and physical spaces

The Progressions series springs from my fascination with digital space.

The prevailing rules and realities that govern digital spaces overlap with those that govern physical realities, but there are marked differences between them. For instance: there is no real concept of age or degradation in digital reality. Just as digital space frequently lacks a third dimension (physical volume), the presence of a fourth dimension (a linear progression through time) is not an innate digital concept.
Above: A.I.P. • 2013 • giclée print on heavy stock

Buffalo Roam • 2013 • giclée print on heavy stock

I find that the customary metaphors and thought-shortcuts we often use in physical space can, when applied in an effort to comprehend digital space, break down in unexpected and fascinating ways. When those breakdowns occur, the resulting cognitive friction can be recognized and documented as art.

Albuquerque Freight • 2013 • giclée print on heavy stock

The works in Progressions are two-dimensional. Each begins with a graphical conceit, and then follow it as it is (needlessly) aged and degraded across the canvas. The result is both natively digital and eerily physical. Each discrete frame can be though of as a moment in time; the larger work can be considered a mosaic (with richly-ornamented pixel elements) or a kind of timeline. 

Nykvist • 2014 • giclée print on heavy stock

The timelines depicted in this series did not need to exist. These original conceits, and whatever value they held, did not need to be degraded. Any resulting emotion generated by following each progression has no purpose in digital reality. As an observer in physical space, where degradation is a reality, these truths fascinate me. The Progressions series is an attempt to understand the shape of that fleeting fascination.