Palette Dreams 1

Back in the old days, I would switch from taking photographs to etching plates every so often just to keep myself in balance. Photography is a... more

by Richard Maier

Original - Not For Sale

Price

Not Specified

Dimensions

8000.000 x 8000.000 pixels

Title

Palette Dreams 1

Artist

Richard Maier

Medium

Digital Art

Description

Back in the old days, I would switch from taking photographs to etching plates every so often just to keep myself in balance. Photography is a scattershot process - you take a lot of photos, but very few of them end up being great. Printing etched plates is a craft - you spend a month on a plate trying to make it perfect and at every step wonder if you're improving your print or about to ruin it.

These days, I mostly switch between the program ArtMatic and creating huge layered Photoshop files as epitomized in the “Atlas Of Dreams” series. The layered Photoshop files have become my modern equivalent of etching a plate, with the added benefit of being able to save versions and go back to them if things go bad. My modern equivalent of a camera is ArtMatic. Instead of searching for interesting subject matter and trying to find the right way to capture it, I search mathematical parameters for interesting algorithms. When I find one, I can “mutate” it until I find it aesthetically pleasing, then explore all its nooks and crannies.

The Palette Dreams series is an exploration of one of these algorithms. The painter’s palette is an environment ripe with possibility. All the more so because during the course of its use, it becomes an unintended piece of art. And yet, what artist, upon completing his painting, looks at the palette and decides to frame this accident and put his name to it? No, it is the palette’s fate to be ignored - discarded or more hopefully to be used again - left to dream again after another day’s painting.

These particular palettes seem to be looking rather organic. Perhaps they are dreaming of waking up...

Uploaded

December 10th, 2013