Proposal for Project 3: Mapping the Evolution of a Creative Event

Mapping a Creative Event

After exploring a variety of examples of the artistic mapping of various digital environments, I found myself especially drawn to the works of Jason Salavon. Two of his works, City and The Loop, Chicago, 1848-2007, are evocative of Monet’s studies of the Cathedral of Rouen, a series that I have always liked. Similarly, Salavon’s stunning work, American Varietal, based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, is strongly reminiscent of the veil paintings of Morris Louis, one of my favorite painters. Like Monet’s studies of Rouen Cathedral (also of haystacks, poplar trees, and other), Cities and The Loop explore transitions through time though by collapsing the time frames so they are seen simultaneously rather than serially as done by Monet. All of this led me to think about Louis’ technique of layering washes of color. Thus I came to my decision to explore a similar creative process through the use of Photo Shop, taking advantage of its layering capabilities.

I propose to start with a basic and simple shape such as a rectangle, to which I will add some variations such as curves & fluting along one edge. I then will explore that shape, transforming it, giving it various fills, applying multiple copies, varying the layer opacity, etc., building up layers until I achieve a final composition. The final work will be composed of two phases which will both be included in the same picture plane: (1) the finished composition consisting of the build-up and accumulation of shapes and colors into a unified whole, and (2) a composite strip of images recording the process from the creation of the original shape through the transformations to the final shape or shapes. Thus viewers will be able to see the process of creation mapped alongside the final work which will be a kind of metamap, a map of itself.