rough draft

Information anxiety is a theme in my own artwork and I have perhaps thousands of sketches and no practical way to compile them or analyze them. In a way, these sketches are like a twitter for my brain! They have iconography in them, often include text, and are diary-like. Some are like maps, others are like observations. A lot of artists are working in similar veins - Julie Mehretu, Sarah Sze, and Judy Pfaff come to mind. They all create multi-layered collage environments. Issues of dissemination, communication, and technology all figure in their work. Like these artists, I also think about these issues. I would like to get better at explaining that both with traditional media and new media.

What is appealing is working with Processing and making use of it's ease and design for artists. I have never done any programming before. Processing is designed for artists and by artists. Getting very good with the Processing language is one of my major goals in life. I like that it is Java-based and that other contemporary artists are using this same way of working. The Processing community is very helpful because it seems to link lots of people with diverse backgrounds and interests. Plus, I can quickly prototype ideas and share them with other artists.

Additionally, I have a problem with how image editing programs work. Most of them seem to revolve around editing photos, not creating new works of art. While, I use Photoshop to present and "clean up" finished drawings, I rarely use it as a tool for creating compositions. It does not really serve me as an artist. It seems like you have to adapt to them, rather than they suit your needs. I would like to create a program/software/application that can organize and reconfigure my own artwork, sort of like a new collage tool. Simplicity is key for me. I want to create new work from my own sketches.

I want it to be more intuitive and easy to use, Perhaps one day another artist would want to work this way with their own artwork. Or, I could easily collaborate with other artists by combining my artwork with theirs.


This is an evolution of my project that I would like to become a multi-semester endeavor. I would eventually like it to be projected in the REVE as well as digital prints made. I would like to learn how I can make generative art utilizing these new media techniques while still maintaining my ideas of aesthetics. The best part is that it could use any image file.

Also, twitter and other social media techniques could be implemented as I now know how to interface twitter with Processing.