Unnatural Selection Projects 2012 - 2016
The 1st version - 'Un-Natural Selection'
The first generation of the project involved the production of a touring exhibition funded by £5000 from the Arts Council of Wales ‘Small Project Grant’. It aimed to explore the creative potential in natural selection as outlined by Charles Darwin in the ‘The Origin of Species’.
24 small abstract paintings were created using chance arrangements and colours. The visual parameters resemble basic human psychological visual parameters, such as colour, shape, scale and number. Mirroring those early experiments by Constructivist and Suprematist artists at the start of the 20th Century. Shapes and colours were chosen with the role of a dice and were dropped onto a table to give their positions. These were then mapped and painted. These paintings were then shown together in community libraries, art galleries and universities. Here the public were invited by the artist to ‘select’, their preferred compositions. This built up data on image choices for a range of ‘niches’ or exhibition venues across South and Mid Wales.
These results were then used to create results prints, which were exhibited alongside the 24 paintings in galleries with supporting texts, presentations, lectures and seminars with invited academics Professor Samir Okasha (Bristol) and Professor Clive Cazeaux (Cardiff Met). These results invited people to propose their own conclusions about the patterns that were visible between locations, genders and age groups. (An act that not only referenced evolutionary theory, but also my interest in folk or pseudo science.)
The 2nd version - 'Natural Selection'
Digitising this project would allow a final image to be generated without the involvement of the artist and subsequently, this means that there can be multiple generations or iterations. Each piece can produce a range of offspring variations to be voted on, and so on. Evolution of the images can continue unchecked. In affect the artwork becomes a primitive digital lifeform in a human cultural niche.
However after several discussions with partner organisations the right context and funding package for this project is not currently available.
The first generation of the project involved the production of a touring exhibition funded by £5000 from the Arts Council of Wales ‘Small Project Grant’. It aimed to explore the creative potential in natural selection as outlined by Charles Darwin in the ‘The Origin of Species’.
24 small abstract paintings were created using chance arrangements and colours. The visual parameters resemble basic human psychological visual parameters, such as colour, shape, scale and number. Mirroring those early experiments by Constructivist and Suprematist artists at the start of the 20th Century. Shapes and colours were chosen with the role of a dice and were dropped onto a table to give their positions. These were then mapped and painted. These paintings were then shown together in community libraries, art galleries and universities. Here the public were invited by the artist to ‘select’, their preferred compositions. This built up data on image choices for a range of ‘niches’ or exhibition venues across South and Mid Wales.
These results were then used to create results prints, which were exhibited alongside the 24 paintings in galleries with supporting texts, presentations, lectures and seminars with invited academics Professor Samir Okasha (Bristol) and Professor Clive Cazeaux (Cardiff Met). These results invited people to propose their own conclusions about the patterns that were visible between locations, genders and age groups. (An act that not only referenced evolutionary theory, but also my interest in folk or pseudo science.)
The 2nd version - 'Natural Selection'
Digitising this project would allow a final image to be generated without the involvement of the artist and subsequently, this means that there can be multiple generations or iterations. Each piece can produce a range of offspring variations to be voted on, and so on. Evolution of the images can continue unchecked. In affect the artwork becomes a primitive digital lifeform in a human cultural niche.
However after several discussions with partner organisations the right context and funding package for this project is not currently available.
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