"Illusion is no
longer possible because the real is no longer possible"
Jean
Baudrillard
Alternative realities and
fantastical sensory experiences have been sought after since the dawn
of
time. Critics of
digital sensory
experiences would say that living in the digital realm is destructive
to
society. In my
"Digital Real"
series I use a comparative analytical style to explore how images and
information have become detached from their basis in reality, and
reformed
through layering with other images.
The
information highway has become its own reality - no longer a copy or a
reflection of the real. Methods
of
repetition, distortion, layering and a creation of the hyper-real all
serve to
provide society with a new way to approach the concepts of truth,
reality and
knowledge.
I have chosen war scenes
as my subject matter because of the abundance of these images in
current
American culture. The
images do not come
from current war time efforts. All
the
images began as scenes taken from a war-like video game. The game is Call of Duty;
a first-person
shooter game that aimed to duplicate World War II as closely as
possible. As I
played the game, I was experiencing a
digital version of World War II. My
experience represents how we as a society learn new information. The digital screen has
become our window to
the world. Information
from all circles
can join together to create a seamless voyage of sound, imagery and
information. All
aspects of our lives
are effected by the ability of the digital real to include information
from
seemingly dis-similar sources. This
variety leads us to discoveries of similarities, and new ways of
approaching
truth.
To construct the images,
as I played the game, I pressed the print screen button to save the
scene. I then used
the scenes as a basis for
paintings using Holbein Aquo duo oil on MDF board.
I then scanned those paintings into digital
images. From the
digital world, I can
manipulate and add layers of meaning to these images but keep the
brushstroke
and the line intact. I then have the images laser printed on to backlit
signage
material. The new
digital images are
layered together and installed into a fluorescent lighting fixture,
thus
returning to its original method of display; a lighted screen.
The paintings and the
lighted boxes are meant to be displayed together, so a comparison can
be made
between the images. The
opportunity to
compare is not always present in the "real" world.
All of the images in my "Digital
Real" series exist at different levels of detachment.
Some images have become unrecognizable in
comparison with the base image. Works
stemming from the same image, share the same name.
This is because the object is the same, its
the representation or perspective of the object that has changed. The black framing works to
draw together the
images into a cohesive display, indicating that the painting and the
lighted
display share the same level of importance.
The lighted display also provides a dramatic scene of
digital war-like
images. They are
placed together in
clusters, much like the frames of a web page or the multiple boxes of
information
on a TV news show.
The ability of a simulated experience to
increase knowledge and ethical behavior has been the catalyst for my work.
Some in society believe that the digital experience is
some how inferior
to an experience outside the digital realm.
My own experience in the realm of “Call of
Duty” provided me with a
knowledge of a digital war ground.
Not
only was there glory, but sorrow and death.
I was able to live a version of history in an engaging and
active
way. Although
we have historically
degraded the intellectual use of the image, the future will use layers
of
images as the most important vehicle of intellectual communication.