Further Abstraction

I recently completed a proposal for an interactive gallery exhibit in Northampton. For the exhibit, I envision a pairing of paintings in the gallery. One set of paintings would be completed by me, and another set would be for gallery viewers to fill in over the course of the exhibit, once grid cell at a time. Both sets feature landscape compositions broken out into many smaller size units which can be rearranged by the viewer. The colors applied by the visitors would be pre-selected to highlight form and contrast within the composition. For the piece displayed in the front window of the gallery, I wanted to break the mold a bit more, and make a mobile or other three dimensional sculpture. Another thought is to project a video short of one of the landscape videos which informed the work.

Grid applied to completed original for this abstraction

In pulling together the proposal I needed to simulate what that would look like, and wanted to test out a digital version of a "paint-by-number" version of my original work. After a quick google search and a little bit of trial and error, I've got a system down, using live trace in Adobe Illustrator. Honestly, I may be more fond of these than the originals, or at least feel like this is a new direction in which I can take the work. The resulting black and white version, and three-tone version could be easily translated into many different color pallets and combinations. Lots of ideas of directions to take this. The results emerge as a flattened plane with the absence of color and tone, but somehow in the absence and reduction of color, the compositional structure becomes even more amplified.

Over the summer I read, Eye and Brain, by Richard L. Gregory, after two different books in one week referenced his research on how we see and process visual information. After that, I felt compelled to check out his writing since it was so formative to other visual writers and artists. As of yet, this Spring, I am still ruminating on his description of multiple visual systems operating at the same time, stacked upon each other. One system sees color, another texture, another black and white, another form. And our visual systems are closely linked to the systems that process tactile information. To see, is to touch--in some way.

I am curious as to how each of these visual systems inform the way we experience a work of art. Are some of us more attuned to one system over another? An example of this: my dog is black and white. Strangers with similarly colored dogs, will say they look just alike, even if they have different fur texture (long hair versus short hair), or different body shapes (lean versus barrel chested). I nod politely with them, confused at first, because the form of the two dogs may be completely different, but then realize they are focused on the color comparisons rather than shape. I wonder if the same happens for different viewers of art. Are some more focused on the texture or color, while others inhabit a black and white version of shape and form?

Below are some sample digital mockups of other representations of the original painting. As well as the linework outline which I'll use to make a constructed representation of the original work.

black and white translation of original work

The black and white reduction is the most striking. I may reprocess this image as a lot of the detail in the sky was lost. Also as I translate this onto other materials, I may simplify the edges. Something to play with in Illustrator in future tests. I do like the strength of this and how clear the compositional structure, but wanted to see if there could be a softer iteration that holds the form, but bridges the distinction of dark and light.

3 tone abstraction of original image

The three tone abstraction could be fun to experiment with--here a limited palette of monochrome neutrals or complimentary colors could push this in another direction. I did take this image into Adobe Photoshop and adjust the levels to make the lightest tone lighter. The original 3 tone separation pushes all tones to medium darkness rather than large separations like black and white. I might need to start with color pallet mock ups for 3 to 4 cells before rendering the full composition.

"paint by number" version of original painting

To be able to construct a 3 tone painting by hand, I thought making a "paint by number" reduction could be helpful. To do this, I returned to Illustrator to remove all color and give the outlines a color and thickness. Then I brought these all into Adobe InDesign to apply the grid reference for translating this to the material so I can be sure the edges line up in the final assembly. You could use Illustrator for this purpose also, but I already had InDesign set up for the grid planning for other works.

There is also something lovely about just linework on a page. I could see exploring simple black and white compositions with ink on a white material, without the grid. Yet another series to test out.

Working to start a new process, or become familiar with a new tool, can lead us down new paths and shake things up. To date, I've mostly been working with acrylic on canvas, but these studies are expanding my usual creative process, and I'm starting to daydream about trying out other media. Over the weekend, I'm going to test this technique out on Mylar acetate with various paint pens, paint, and sharpies; wood, fishing line, spinners, buttons, and magnets may also be involved. A mockup may involve a vertical column of a part of this grid. Mockups are great for testing more quickly, identifying logistic and material challenges, working through solutions in an iterative fashion, and helping project out time of effort and cost for applying the same methodology to the whole work.

-March 19, 2025