Video: Pixelated nature in sculptures by Shawn Smith
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Nature and culture, the natural and "built" world - it seems that the relationship between these two coexisting worlds will never cease to interest humanity. Moreover, the more science and technology develop, the more interesting it is. For example, what do we see when we watch something from the series "In the animal world" on TV? Steppes, savannahs, prairies? Lions, peacocks and hyenas? American sculptor Shawn Smith strongly disagrees. "We think we are seeing nature, when in reality they are just samples of pixel images." Just think, but in some ways he is right!
In his work, Shawn Smith explores the precarious place where two worlds meet - the digital and the real. At the same time, the author pays special attention to how science and technology are changing our perception of nature. The Re-things series are bizarre sculptures depicting pixelated animals and birds. For each work, Shawn found an image on the Internet and then recreated a 3D object from a 2D object using a model. “I build my sculptures pixel by pixel in order to understand how important (sometimes decisive) role each pixel plays in the perception of the whole image,” says the author.
Shawn Smith creates his “pixels” from plywood or MDF, cutting them into strips of different lengths and painting them in different colors. Each pixel is individually painted in the desired color, for which the author mixes ink and acrylic paints - this approach is necessary to obtain a wide palette of colors, which gives the sculpture more depth and makes it visually interesting. “By making the intangible tangible, I call my creative process alchemy, because by folding artificial materials I try to depict living forms,” says Shawn.
Shawn Smith was born in 1972 in Dallas, Texas, USA. Graduated from Washington University in St. Louis (Bachelor of Graphics) and California College of the Arts in San Francisco (Master of Sculpture). Currently, the author lives and works in Austin (Texas), exhibitions of his work are held in the United States and France.
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