Philip Sanders: Polloi
Artist(s):
Title:
- Polloi
Exhibition:
Creation Year:
- 2004
Medium:
- Digital images - inkjet prints
Category:
Artist Statement:
Polloi is a series of modular prints taken from Koi, an interactive p anoramic painting that investigates the relationship among the perceptual, phenomenal, and conceptual worlds. The panorama is a digital sy nthesis of realistic and abstract imaging from digital painting, video, and photography. It draws on art references as diverse as abstract expressionism, color-field painting, sumi ink painting, magic realism, and surrealism. It is partly derived from a series of digital photos and video taken at the Jacques Marchais Tibetan Museum. The process I used to create each individual image was first to create the OTVR panorama, Koi, and then to use a Quick Time viewer to interactively determine the zoom factor, tilt, and pan of each composition. These individual compositions taken from the original Koi panorama were then saved as individual files and printed using an archival inkjet printer. The Polloi series is modular and scalable. Each installation is selected from a series of compositions chosen in a process that mirrors the way a viewer would explore the original OTVR panorama. The number and size of the individual prints and the arrangement of the grid of prints is variable, dependent upon the specific site chosen and its aesthetic and environmental requirements. I find it aesthetically and conceptually pleasing that the process of composing an installation of prints echoes the process of creating the original panorama. Both processes are digital, although with widely varying resolutions and different, yet modular, picture elements
Technical Information:
The panorama was composed from digital imaging media, including digital painting, digital photography, and digital video. The image files were then composited in a QTVR authoring program. The final Koi panorama was used to create the many individual compositions that make up the modular and scalable Polloi series. Since Polloi is digital, it does not have a fixed size or resolution, either for the individual
images or for each installation of a series of prints. Each installation of the work is site specific, determined by various environmental and aesthetic factors. The idea of resolution for each individual print image is standard (how many pixels high and how many pixels wide the image is). The resolution for an entire Pol/oi installation is similar
conceptually, except that each “pixel” is an individual print. One installation might be composed of a 4 x 4 grid of prints, while the next might be a 16 x 4 grid of prints, and another might be a 32 x 1 grid (or line) of prints.
