Secrets
of the Cybernauts...
The digital
ghost-like qualities of this image result from the Sabatier effect, a
curiosity of physics discovered in the mid 19th century by one of the
pioneers of photography. Essentialy the effect was arrived at by
re-exposing to light partially developed film. By varying both
development ant lighting times extraordinary effects were possible in
skilled hands.
In GoFigure.net.au
the same effect is arrived at by a different route. The digital image
has been created digitally using an algorithm similar to that used by
Google to search the web. In this case the mathematical pattern
replicates a chaos theory based development of colour and tone that
contains both positive and negative elements in the same image.
More digitalized images
Man Ray's Supper...
In these images
mass and proportion are identical to the hyper-realistic paint images,
yet the positive/negative partial reversals make the image surprisingly
hard to 'read' in a conventional sense for the conscious mind. This
frees the unconscious to feel in an unfettered manner whilst the
conscious is still awake.
Man Ray used this psychological reversal process to access the
dreamworld with black and white imagery in the early 20th century.
The Beginning Becomes the End...
Very
interestingly, in regard to colour and tone as the essential elements
of painting, Sabatier type effects tend to destroy normal tonal and
colour relationships, and as the colour disintegrates, the line appears.
As
with the original chemical/light experiments of Sabatier, the algorithm
produces a line. It is seen here in the final image in the triptych,
and in varying degrees in the alternative images on this site. It is
noticable in the hair and down the neck in particular.
For 150 years physicists have
been unable to convincingly explain that line, except to say that it is
a characteristic of the Sabatier effect. It remains a quirk of chaos
theory, ever mysterious, possibly forever unexplanable. I like that
thought.
GoFigure.net.au is different
to other paintings. As with Carravagio, this work started with paint,
there was no line at its beginning. Yet its conclusion finds a line.
GoFigure.net.au
View GoFigure.net.au
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