Michael Field: Noexit
Artist(s):
Title:
- Noexit
Exhibition:
Creation Year:
- 2003
Size:
- 27 in x 23 in
Category:
Artist Statement:
With the discovery in the late 1920s of quantum mechanics and the uncertainty principle, many physicists began to adopt the view that the universe was intrinsically non-deterministic. That is, at a very fundamental level, matters are decided by chance rather than any formulaic recipe. A consequence of this viewpoint is that the regularity and form one sees everywhere is often an expression of statistical regularity. That is, structure can be, and often is, a (geometric) realization of “laws of averages.” Life itself, depending as it does on the statistical laws of genetics and inheritance, is maybe the best and most familiar expression of the role that randomness plays in our existence.
In my work, I use ideas based on symmetry and chaotic dynamical systems as a means of expressing and representing in an abstract way the underlying structure that lies within chaos and randomness.
All of my work is created using software that I have been developing now for 14 years. This software, which I call prism (an acronym for Programs for the Interactive Study of Maps), uses ideas based on my mathematical research into symmetry, chaos, and dynamics. As part of prism, I have developed many algorithms specifically to achieve some of the effects that I obtain in my pieces. I use prism for the design and coloring of the piece. I do not use any commercial software packages. I also build the computers that I use to create these pieces. The finished work is printed onto photographic paper using a Durst Lambda 130.
