Digital Fine Art by Chuck Thurston

Contact Info:

415-437-5100

cthurston@Thurston-sf.com

360 Langton #105

San Francisco, CA 94103

Bio:

I have been exploring visual creativity for over 30 years in a variety of media, including paint, photography, multi-image projection and darkroom manipulation. Since forming a digital imaging company in 1989, I have continued these endeavors using computer art tools and digital output. I am excited and motivated by the limitless unexplored possibilities that are waiting to be discovered in the digital working environment.

I have an educational background in both art and science (Ohio Sate University 1967-1970) and have always liked the idea of combining painting and photography into one medium. In the late 1970's, I achieved this by "painting with light" using the sequential blending of multiple overlapping slide projections. Called "multi-image" in those days, it would sometimes involve as many as nine slide projectors under computerized control, carefully aligned and focused, projecting into the same screen area. I also worked commercially in this high-precision medium through the mid to late 1980's, eventually forming a successful company specializing in camera-stand special effects and slide animation.

The blending of layers in Photoshop is conceptually very much like the layering and dissolving of multiple slide projections. In both cases, I've been drawn to the open-ended possibilities that are linked to the emergence of surprising visual discoveries. During the 80's and 90's, several of my multi-image shows won awards and prizes in international festival competitions.

Also during this period, I taught a class in multi-image production through the Photography Dept at San Francisco City College.

I could see that multi-image as a commercial medium was becoming obsolete in the late 1980's, so I moved my business and art interests in the direction of digital imaging and software-enabled image creation. My company, Thurston Digital, (http://www.thurstondigital.net/) offers commercial large format digital print services, including fine art printing and print finishing, along with other services.

This puts me in a position that is not common among digital artists: I have been able to acquire the tools and skills necessary to fabricate digital art in my own studio. By experimenting freely with processes and materials, I am able to produce fully satisfying "art objects" that are more than just service bureau "giclee" prints.

I am currently an active member of San Francisco Renaissance Toastmasters.

About the Art:

The images represented in this portfolio exist as high resolution digital files that can be used to fabricate pieces up to approx 48" wide. The digital output has a durable facing surface and is typically mounted to sheet metal for image widths greater than 24". For smaller sizes, I like to use 1/8" black acrylic with polished edges, although sheet metal also works well. Another typical treatment is to face-mount the image to the backside of clear Plexiglas. Each piece has a recessed wooden back frame for hanging that also provides stand-off from the wall. The art is fully and cleanly self-presenting.

These images are derived from both photographic and non-photographic sources. The photographic images may appear unaltered at first glance, but in fact are the end result of tremendous amounts of meticulous effort. The abstract, "painted" images have been developed using similar methods. In all cases, I am working toward a formal objective that transcends the specific pictorial content and includes the uncovering of a deeper, essential subjectivity. Please see the notes that accompany each image.

My current work derives from many years of experimentation with image sources, layering techniques and generative processes. I believe that digital art-making is in its infancy in terms of acceptance and understanding. Exciting and important developments lie ahead.

Exhibitions:

My artwork has been included in YLEM exhibitions at the Blue Room Gallery and The Krause Center for Innovation Gallery (Foothills College). I have also exhibited through Anon Salon Gallery and ARTworkSF. Three of my pieces were included in Digital '07: Pattern Finding, an international juried exhibition at the New York Hall of Science, sponsored by ASCI in New York (Art & Science Collaborations, Inc.). One of my pieces was also included in "Snap to Grid", an all-digital exhibition at the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art.

Artist Statement:

My long-term goal as an artist is to develop visual expressions that excite and challenge one's sense of identity in relation to the larger mystery of things. In the same way that even a handful of musical notes can be sequenced into melodies that have surprising emotional significance, I believe that shapes, colors and textures can likewise be "arranged" to evoke much more than the sum of their visual parts.

I feel a strong attraction to process-driven patterns in nature -- erosion formations, tree roots, leaves and branches, rocks, waves, etc. The unexpected appearance of evocative and lifelike "pictorial" forms in these randomly generated, yet characteristically patterned arrangements of material can sometimes be quite arresting.

I strongly believe that the digital world is a part of nature (in the largest sense) and is similarly governed by processes and conditions that also offer rich visual possibilities. The expressive character of the unique formations that can occur within visual fields that are otherwise defined by their global self-similarity is both remarkable and a bit paradoxical, indicating a mysterious relationship between randomness and coherence. (See below, "Form and Motion" and "Where's Waldo?")

These images are the result of a digital art-making process that I have been developing and refining for a number of years. I am particularly interested in the fundamental exercise of preference that happens at the intersection of generative process and intentional intervention -- where the natural laws that govern the behavior of the medium are enlisted and orchestrated by the artist.

Conditions and processes that occur independently of the artist are what I refer to as "generative". From this perspective, the shape of a rock is "generated" in the same sense that the results of a software algorithm are "generated". In contrast to this are the direct manipulations, the imposed conditions, the discriminating selections and the preferential choices of the artist, all of which are characterized by more or less conscious, highly intentional decisions.

The artist's innate and unique sense of preference will inevitably guide these decisions. In the digital realm it seems like conscious choices are in fact demanded almost continually, which is an ironic reversal of the old-fashioned notion of digital art being "computer-generated". It's like spelunking in a cave system where every few feet there are countless new branching passageways, all of which offer tempting possibilities. How does one choose?

While this can seem bewildering at first, digital tools have provided the ability to save, compare and recombine multiple versions of one's work. We can "undo" and "redo" our artistic decisions until we're certain of our sense of direction. Since these possibilities do not exist with traditional materials, they lead to a way of working that is special to the digital realm. By combining this new mode of creative development with the increasing generative power of software tools, I believe it is possible to open up exciting new visual territories that beckon with significance.

Image Portfolio:

Rocky Bank, Pt. Reyes (48"x32" or smaller, digital print mounted to sheet metal). This image began as a 35mm b&w film negative. The original film grain that was captured during drum scanning (along with the picture information) has been replaced by a generative pattern that offers an illusion of material detail far beyond what was originally part of the photograph. My goal is to use the high-resolution potentials of digital printmaking to create the illusion of infinite detail at the picture plane and thus remove all visual cues as to its actual location in space. To the extent that this is successfully achieved, the piece moves away from simply being a "print" and becomes an "object" in its own right. This scene has a mysterious quality about it that has been cultivated and reinforced by the meticulous removal of distracting anomalies, thereby providing an unnaturally clear view of its essential nature.

Rocky Bank, Pt. Reyes (detail)

Two Trees (48"x32" digital print mounted to sheet metal), also began as a 35mm b&w film negative. In this case, the grain replacement strategy is more prominent and creates a web-like interconnection between all of the objects in the image. (See detail below.) The subject here is the living, dynamic relationship between the two trees, both as pictorial "players" within the visual field and also simply as trees, with all of the weathered markings of their shared history.

Two Trees (detail)

Rocks and Trees (48"x32" digital print mounted to sheet metal). Multiple scans of color transparencies provided the visual sources for this image. The eventual development of this composition also involved selective layering and recombination, in addition to the kinds of processes described above.

Rocks and Trees (detail)

Leaf Studies #1 (27"x18" digital print). This image began as a digital photograph. It has been extensively edited by hand, with the objective of releasing an unencumbered and idealized expression of the essential form and pattern of this particular leaf design.

Leaf Studies #1 (detail)

Tangled Branches, Pt. Reyes (digital print). This image began as a 35mm b&w negative. The film grain and image detail have been replaced and reworked with the goal of enlisting the image structure in support of the spatial ambiguity of the pictorial elements.

Tangled Branches, Pt. Reyes (detail)

River Secrets (digital print). Starting with a medium-resolution digital photograph, the image structure has been reworked at a higher resolution in order to present a large format view of this peaceful and alluring scene. The dense redwood canopy creates a realm of impenetrable darkness just beyond the boundaries of this island of light.

River Secrets (detail)

Dark Terrain (48"x32" digital print on canvas mounted to sheet metal). This is an exercise in surface and texture that combines non-photographic digital processes with deliberate interventions, including working by hand. One of my intentions was to create depth illusion and ambiguity of scale that suggest the possibility of exploring this world after dropping in from far above.

Dark Terrain (detail)

Falling Light, 9/11/01 (48"x32" digital print mounted to sheet metal).

A concept of reality shatters,

The shards reflect the vulnerability of our enlightenment.

Falling Light, 9/11/01 (detail)

Spelunk (48"x28" digital print mounted to sheet metal). This image is entirely synthetic and is the product of countless cycles of generative and intentional revisions. By consciously and selectively eliminating discontinuities in the structural coherence of an abstract image, one can uncover a "rightness" of form and a unity of pictorial harmony that together evoke a sense of meaningful reality, without obvious literal associations.

Spelunk (detail)

Form & Motion #1 (19.5"x13" digital print mounted to sheet metal). This is another synthetic (non-photographic) image. It is part of a series based upon digital noise patterns that have been enlarged and repeatedly transformed. The real subject here is the interplay between randomness and coherence, leading to the emergence of life-like shapes within this purely digital environment.

Form & Motion #1 (detail)

Where's Waldo? (42"x26" digital print mounted to sheet metal). Where is Waldo these days? This is another image that began as a digital noise pattern. It went on a very long journey to arrive at this destination. I find these shapes to be oddly humorous. They also appear to be fully engaged in the outworking of some sort of nonverbal narrative.

Where's Waldo? (detail)

Forest Story (digital print mounted to sheet metal). Modified tree branch shapes are mixed with abstract elements to suggest both a place and an unfolding narrative.

Forest Story (detail)

Form & Motion #2 (19.5"x13" digital print mounted to sheet metal). A variation within a series. See "Form and Motion #1, above.

Form & Motion #2 (detail)

Contact Info:

Chuck Thurston

cthurston@thurston-sf.com

415-437-5100

360 Langton #105

San Francisco, CA 94103