PHOTOMANIPULATION - Imaginations' Escape

I love it when things almost jump out at you ;)

DRAWN - The Wheel

What started off as an experimentation with fractals turned into.. this :D I'm not really a great fan of fractal art. Sure some of it looks very pretty but it doesn't talk to me, so I've not often played with them. This reminds me however of the taoist idea that understanding the universe is the same as understanding yourself.. and the fact life never stops turning, no matter how strange or quickly it moves.

PHOTOMANIPULATION - Harnessing the flow

The picture was taken in the grounds of Hinley Hall. When I first saw this it reminded me of the way people try to harness themselves and the world.. and ultimately fail. The brickwork introduced by man carrying the water down the hill makes it flow down quickly, but the moment it hits the natural ground the force seems to disappear.

The world seems like that some days. We drive ourselves in a particular direction with plans and goals, but once the world gets involved, all the energy is absorbed and it seems like nothing happens. However the energy, or the action, does make a difference. It makes the world move forward, if only a little bit. We just need a little patience. Of course, if you can only relax, go with the flow, you'll find yourself in the same place without the drama :)

PHOTOMANIPULATION - Experience

There are two interesting philosophical questions, which I feel are interlinked. The first is 'what is the nature of the universe?', the second, 'what is the nature of conciousness?' The world seems divided on the first, with some people stating that the universe is a clockwork machine, completely governed by physical laws. Some say that the natural order of the universe springs from absolute chaos, and reality is fundamentally random. Neither of those explanations require the existence of anything extraordinary.

The fun comes in when we ask the question, 'what is the nature of conciousness?' We define conciousness as the part of us that percieves and is aware of the universe, and ourselves. Descartes gave us the idea, "I think, therefore I am", and formulated the mind-body problem. Some of the people who believe in the clockwork universe would tell us that there is no such thing as the mind, and all the thoughts and feelings we experience are again governed by physical laws (the brain being a physical entity of course). This requires the existence of a total theory of everything, since reality as we experience it must be computable for the brain to percieve it in a purely deterministic way. Interestingly enough though there are many arguments in mathematics that suggest that the whole is always greater than the sum of its parts. For me this posits the existence of a greater unity, one that cannot be explained, but can be experienced.

Experience is another funny thing. Most people would accept that experience is always personal and subjective, and cannot be explained (at least not in a language as we know it) You can tell somebody how to ride a bike, but even knowing everything there is to know, until you have actually ridden a bike, you have no idea how it feels to be perfectly balanced.

I personally feel that the universe needs no explanation, it just is, in its infinite random glory. It's when we come along with our conciousness that reality is painted with our colours, given our explanations based in the meaning we choose to give it. Your world is whatever you want it to be :)

DRAWN - Infinite Regression

This is one of my forays into the world of drawing (well in this case it's a cross between photomanipulation, drawing, effects and general shoppyness). This is inspired by Tarski's Undecidability Theorem which is based on the liar paradox. There is a similar result in the field of maths known as Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem, and it has been suggested (though to my knowledge, not formalised) that there is a link between these theories and Heisenbergs' quantum undecidability. That sounds a bit 'chicken and egg' to me, since if we cannot ground truth through the mind, how can we observe truth in the universe? or even recognise it for what it is when we see it?! (apart from possibly taking that leap of faith that scientists so despair against). The scientific method (and Aristotle through his own mistakes) teaches us pretty succintly that we need to confirm our thoughts with observations, but at every turn it seems the deeper we dig the more weird (or 'undecidable') things get. Is 'God' slamming the door in our faces? In any case the symbolism in the above should be fairly obvious ;)

Imagekind are indeed that, holding copies of this here

PHOTOMANIPULATION - The Heart is...

This is one of my favorite pieces (of my own work of course hehe) Unintentionally, it has become equivalent to a half full cup. The image just sprang to me, as they sometimes do, and I made it without thinking about the meaning.

When I first looked at it, it felt very negative, reminding me of a heart torn, and called it that. Since then others and I have seen it in a positive light, as if it is the intentional release of the infinite energy within. Now I find it acts like a pictorial moodring.

For a print, please click here (imagekind link)

First Post

TEST.

Good, that worked. Always a positive sign when that happens huh? =)

I never really thought I'd get involved in blogging, my work in IT and computer science... doesn't require it as such (although I appreciate the idea that it can help, don't get me wrong). I've always seen blogging as more of a marketing strategy, and the things I've always been involved in 'selling' have required a much more personal touch (like in the form of job interviews and CV's) I'm active in some forums, facebook, etc, but me blogging? Blogs have always been a source of interesting information, but it seemed like another password to remember, another website to log in to and keep updated, whilst living in a world where there weren't enough hours in a day to do everything I wanted in any case.

However.. now I find myself in an interesting situation. As well as general living, socialising, computer sciencing, I'm actively promoting my artwork, and blogging is certainly one way of doing that. So here I am :) Knowing me, while I'm here, I'll post up all sorts of craziness. I'll also try to label posts appropriately so it won't be a pain finding something you are looking for.

If you were wondering what the hell is a computer scientist doing making and promoting artwork, I can say without any guilt (and without trying to hide a smile) that the imagination is a pretty key part of producing workable solutions to problems. Einstein was a visual thinker, certainly seemed to help him ;D I've always found visualising and drawing diagrams useful for my understanding, and always found being artistic a great way to improve on my visualisation techniques. I've also had some good comments on my work. We're also living in the credit crunch. Putting those things together gives an interesting conclusion.. ;D Will I be successful? Well only time will tell, but one thing is for certain. If I don't try, then I won't be.

Well, it's nice meeting you, I hope you find something interesting, useful or just funny here :) (and if my art makes you laugh, great hehe), please leave a comment if you feel inclined. I'm looking forward to some interesting conversations :)