LiQin Tan: LavaBody + 6
Artist(s):
Collaborators:
Title:
- LavaBody + 6
Exhibition:
Medium:
- Digital marble prints with 3D animation and convex mirror
Size:
- 16" x 88" x 77"
Category:
Artist Statement:
In my ongoing Digital-Nature series, I bring unity to the dichotomous by synthesizing digital technology and aesthetics with the fundamental primitive beauty of natural burl and the human body.
This installation is a virtual lava body formed by simulated flowing lava, which comes to life in my 3D animations on LCD TV screens; a convex mirror reflects the lava motion sequence. While the lava body animation is a digital simulation, the mirror reflection is “real.” The tension and interaction between these two virtual re-creations enable us to enter a new world of encoded materialization.
Technical Information:
3D animation and modeling images are printed on a rock surface using Vutek PressVu UV 200/600 printers, these printers are often used for digital inkjet printing on exotic materials. Each rock print is the result of extensive research, in terms of color consistency and material requirements.
Six display monitors are integrated with Matrox multi-display technologies. On-screen information can be moved from one display to another, as the six displays in the system show one large lava animation clip.
Correct virtual reflection from a mirror depends on the mirror’s convexity and the shape of the animation. The former determines the reflection size of the lava animation from the LCD TVs, and the latter changes the image over. Softimage/XSI version 5.01 was the main software used for modeling and animation.
