Figuring the Digital

This body of work is a way of understanding, reflecting on, and contributing to a contemporary dialogue about the impact of digital technology and the Internet on society by looking at the organization of information that lies behind the computer screen, and creating work that is sourced directly from the Internet but becomes a tangible object in the physical world. I use methods of mass production and marketing to create artwork that values individuality over homogenization and complexity over efficiency, co-opting practical digital technology for the purposes of physical beauty. The work should inspire a sense of wonder through its complexity and scale, and reference recognizable visual systems. I create systems for moving through the internet and generate images in which the size, shape and repetition of each line is determined by the organization of existing websites and information published on social networking sites like Facebook.com. I employ a single system constructing a drawing in which the outcome changes based on the data I feed it. The graphs I produce evoke a sense of linking, web, or interconnectedness. Large, radial, laser cut and hand folded paper medallions are sourced in these graphs and reference rose windows or Islamic patterning, touching upon the divine while simultaneously evoking the underlying structures of the natural world. The work escapes the conventional shape and scale of the computer screen, grappling, in a physical way with something that does not exist in relation to the body, and offering an alternative to addressing advancing technology. This work references artists ChanSchatz, Annoka Faruqee, and Janine Antoni but distinguishes itself with formal beauty, the relationship to the divine, and the potential for association to other forms, bringing digital technology in dialogue with nature and history by pointing to commonalities in their structures