ARTIST STATEMENT 2010

ARTIST STATEMENT 2010

“Naturalizing the Digital”

“Sculpture’s prerogative is to confront us with the fact of our material, physical, bodily reality, making that fact available to thought and feeling –and making it sociable, an open secret shared with others in a common space.” -Peter Schjeldahl

My current work explores the relationship between natural processes and digital technology.

In terms of technology, humans are inclined to digitize and rationalize our environment. We tend to delineate boundaries, build boxes, and design grids. Even our language can be viewed as a way to capture ideas or feelings into discreet packages of information that are words.

Nature, on the other hand, has no such discreet boundaries. It is clearly Analogue. Its language consists of forces, processes, and materials. Discreet objects grow or crystallize from the energy of the universe.

Art, then can be viewed as the thing that reaches back from our rational constructions to bring meaning to our place in the natural world. Writers, poets, and musicians create analogue-like flows of words to remind us of our true nature. Makers also reconfigure discreet materials into analogue expressions that resonate with our connection to the natural world.

In my sculpture, I try to make physical expressions that appear as if they grew from the interaction of natural forces and human intention.

The sculptures I am submitting exploit the physicality of form and materials to make the viewer aware of their bodily presence in a real space. They also use form and materiality to confront the viewer with empathy for the natural world. The sculptures can lead the viewer to experience preverbal content that includes origin, growth, and potential.

As our evolution, through the advent of digital and virtual technologies grows, I find myself compelled to emphasize the importance of our natural and physical environments. While I continue to explore and utilize digital processes, I do it with the express goal to reinforce the physical and natural aspects of human experience.

Francis Fox 1 August 2010