Abstract Artist Working in the Realm of Digital Media
Modeled in the program Blender, I created a structure of 289 multi-colored blocks with multi-colored sloping fins at 51.5 degrees (the angle of slope of the Great Pyramid of Giza). This view is in perspective with the virtual camera looking upward from the bottom.
Click on images to enlarge (except mobile devices)
QUADRAMID VI, 2023
cnc cut out inkjet on acrylic mounted to composite aluminum
Dimensions Variable, 47.5″ x 47.5″ overall
DETAIL
It was a wonderful turnout for the opening of TANGENTS at the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve.
I’m proud to be in this exhibition of abstract and geometric art with a group of nine terrific artists (including myself) in NE Ohio; Gianna Commito, David Louis Cintron, Mark Howard, Mark Keffer, Catherine Lentini, Natalie Lanese, Ed Raffel, and Susan Squires
Curated by artist Jenniffer Omaitz, she says:
“Why is making abstract work still important? And how can the process of being an abstract artist lead to greater manifestations of perception? This exhibition aims to excite a deeper interest in geometric art and abstraction in the area and inspire more artists to open up their studio practice.“
Thanks to Stuart Pearl for his photographs. All photographs by Stuart Pearl © Artists Archives of the Western Reserve except if otherwise noted.
Click here to learn more about this exhibition and additional programing for the exhibition on the Artists Archives website
click on images to enlarge (except mobile devices)
Curator of Tangents Jenniffer Omaitz (left) and Mindy Tousley, Executive Director of the Artists Archives
PYRALUX IV
uv inkjet on acrylic mounted to composite aluminum and cut out on cnc router
47.5″ x 47.5″, edition 1 of 3
QUADRABAR I
uv inkjet on acrylic mounted to composite aluminum and cut out on cnc router
47.5″h x 45.5″w, edition 1 of 3
Curator Jennifer Omaitz (center) and AAWR Executive Director Mindy Tousley (to her right) with the artists in the exhibition speaking about the exhibition
Artist and AAWR board member John Sargent III (left) and artist, curator and owner of Context Fine Art Gallery Christopher Richards
Artist Ed Raffel with his fantastic mirrored moving artwork
Third from left artist Susan Squires (her work is in the exhibition)
On left artist Natalie Lanese (her work is in the exhibition)
In the background, works by David Louis Cintron
My husband, the incomparable Bruce Baumwoll talking with Megan Alves. Megan Alves is a art historian was previously marketing and program manager at AAWR.
from left: Artist Mark Howard (his work is in the exhibition), Curator Jenniffer Omaitz
Board Member Keith Berr & Linda Barberic
The exhibition runs from November 2 – December 16, 2023. Hope you can visit and see not only my work but the wonderful work of the other artists.
Click here to read more about the exhibition on the Artists Archive website.
Curator Jenniffer Omaitz will give a curators talk at the AAWR on December 2 at 1:00pm.
Artists Archives of the Western Reserve
1834 E. 123rd Street Cleveland, OH 44106
216-721-9020
I was awarded the Ohio Arts Council’s Artists With Disabilities Access Program (ADAP) Grant for fiscal year 2024.
I’m proud to be in this exhibition of abstract and geometric art with a group of nine terrific artists (including myself) in NE Ohio; Gianna Commito, David Louis Cintron, Mark Howard, Mark Keffer, Catherine Lentini, Natalie Lanese, Ed Raffel, and Susan Squires
From the Artists Archives website:
Tangents: Abstract and geometric Art in Northeast Ohio continues on in this tradition by gathering together a collection of diverse and prolific NEO artists who are choosing to work in a nonrepresentational way. While their various works include forays into: Color, optical interplay, mathematics, space, surface, texture, process, and the built environment, all explore their individual pursuits in geometry and abstraction.
Curator Jennifer Omaitz writes,” The idea for this exhibition grew out of a call to action. In the wake of the COVID 19 Pandemic most regional artworks appeared to explore literal pictorial space in painting and sculpture. Questions circulated about who in the area is making design dominant, non-representational work? Why is making abstract work still important? And how can the process of being an abstract artist lead to greater manifestations of perception? This exhibition aims to excite a deeper interest in geometric art and abstraction in the area and inspire more artists to open up their studio practice… The process of making abstract art occupies a rare space. It combines ways of thinking and making that interact with the temporal; sometimes abstraction is minimal and simplified, sometimes optical, and sometimes part of a collaged or combined language. It slows down or abandons the use of literal shapes and forms, often including ad hoc arrangement and disparate elements to engage the viewer in a space where philosophical questions prevail. The work has the power to share the pictorial space of color and surface with sensuality, metaphor, and resonance.”
I have two artworks in the exhibition; QUADRABAR I and PYRALUX IV. These pieces represent a new direction in my work, connecting my roots as an architect with my digital media practice by utilizing 3d modeling to create geometric abstraction. I call this process 3D Derivatives. The idea of an artist being derivative often has a negative connotation, as being imitative of another artist. But I’m using this word in a different context; that of something that is derived from a source, in this case the source being a 3d model. A 3d model can be viewed in many ways, orthographically and in perspective, from the top, bottom and sides, from different angles, rotated… etc. and a 3D model can be rendered with realistic shadows. These characteristics draw me into this process enabling me to expand on my geometric abstraction in ways not possible in 2D. Using the program Blender, I first create a 3d model, add color and study different camera views and lighting to cast shadows that emphasize the forms. I then export renderings to be printed on rigid substrates and cut them out on a router allowing the geometry to reveal its edges.
click on images to enlarge (except mobile devices)
QUADRABAR I, 2023
uv inkjet on acrylic/composite aluminum cut out on cnc router
dimensions variable – 47.5″h x 45.5″w overall, edition of 3
QUADRABAR I is a visualization in perspective looking directly overhead of a structure of a grid of cubes intersected by bars. They shift up in down, undulating in a wave like formation assembling an implied geographic terrain. Infused with 14 colors plus black and white, it comes alive as an optical tapestry in a symphony of color.
PYRALUX IV, 2023
uv inkjet on acrylic/composite aluminum cut out on cnc router
dimensions variable – 47.5″ x 47.5″ overall, edition of 3
PYRALUX IV is a visualization in perspective looking directly overhead of a structure of 2 back to back square pyramids of stepped blocks color coded with primary colors plus white forming the platonic solid, the Octahedron. The stepped blocks along the edges of the octahedron are recessed, splitting the octahedron into 8 parts of which only 4 parts are visible in this view. The Octahedron’s vertices are color coded in black. A series of smaller blocks nest on the larger blocks increasing in size as they cascade down from the vertices.
The exhibition runs from November 2 – December 16, 2023. Hope you can visit and see not only my work but the wonderful work of the other artists.
Click here to read more about the exhibition on the Artists Archive website.
Curator Jenniffer Omaitz will give a curators talk at the AAWR on December 2 at 1:00pm.
Artists Archives of the Western Reserve
1834 E. 123rd Street Cleveland, OH 44106
216-721-9020
I was awarded the Ohio Arts Council’s Artists With Disabilities Access Program (ADAP) Grant for fiscal year 2024.
Click on images to enlarge (except mobile devices)
CUBUS ET OCTAEDRUM II.I
(Perspective View)
uv cured inkjet on acrylic mounted to composite aluminum and cut out on cnc router
dimensions variable, 45″h x 42.75″w overall, edition of 3
Detail of CUBUS ET OCTAEDRUM II.I
CUBUS ET OCTAEDRUM II.II
(Orthographic Top View)
uv cured inkjet on acrylic mounted to composite aluminum and cut out on cnc router
dimensions variable, 45″h x 45″w overall, edition of 3
CUBUS ET OCTAEDRUM II.III
(Orthographic Side View)
uv cured inkjet on acrylic mounted to composite aluminum and cut out on cnc router
dimensions variable, 45″h x 41.75″w overall, edition of 3
CUBUS ET OCTAEDRUM is a study of platonic solids, in this instance, the cube and the octahedron. We all know what a cube is and for those who might not know, an octahedron is an 8 faced polyhedron. A polyhedron is simply a solid figure with multiple faces typically with more than 6.
I’ve been going back to my roots as an architect, thinking about the basics of geometry. I loved geometry as a child and knew by the time I was in high school that what I wanted to be was an architect. So working in 3D again, I’m revisiting the platonic solids that so fascinated me early in life.
With CUBUS ET OCTAEDRUM, I started with the thought of turning the square pyramids I’ve been creating made from stepped cubes into an Octahedron which is simply two square pyramids back to back. On a side note, a square pyramid like the Great Pyramid of Giza is not a platonic solid but that’s too complicated to get into here without boring you to tears. Then I wanted to up the stakes and add another platonic solid, the cube that resulted in this intervention of the cube expanding out of the octahedron or it could be looked at as the octahedron growing around the cube. I also sculpted the blocks, carving into them to accept the sloping fins instead of sitting on top of the blocks. The fins connected together form triangles. I also split the octahedron up into 8 individual triangular sections further accentuating these sloping triangles.
In this second iteration, I broke the cube into primary colors with the Octahedron in black and white.
