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The Encaustic Paintings of Richard Purdy

Text by Mark Daniel Cohen   December 2004

The fine arts are events in the life of the mind. Art has always attended to, been influenced by, and influenced the workings of science, mathematics, and philosophy, and as our ideas of the nature of our world have changed, art has changed with them. Art at its most adventurous has always delved to the essence of what we discover by sheer thought, and as science and mathematics today undergo paradigmatic changes, bringing a fundamentally altered sense of the world, so art must change, and is changing again.... (continued)

"Click to read the entire text by Mark Daniel Cohen in a new window"  

Statement 2004

For my most recent work I've written a web browser routine that produces a set of cellular automata, variants of ones found in Stephen Wolfram's book "A New Kind of Science". Those unfamiliar with the term "cellular automata" will find a wealth of information about them on the web, but typically they are grid-based formations where the identity of each successive element is dependent on the identity of its immediate neighbors.

I've placed the computer component on the web as an interactive project where you can literally have access to my "tool box" and use it in the same way I do. Once on that page, those of you willing to take the time to read through the supporting code (by clicking view > source) will be able to understand the simple mechanics behind these formations, which I hope will help you more fully enjoy the variety and integration of the patterns.

A graphic explanation of the process is available here:
http://www.gaugefield.net/framePage/formExplained.html

Variations can be produced on your own here:
http://www.gaugefield.net/framePage/form.html
(because of my deficiencies as a programmer this page will not run in FireFox/mozilla)

Richard Purdy  November 2004

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Statement 2000

We perceive the world as sensation, but comprehend it as structure. Rather than discovering the absolute truth about the physical world from measurement and examination, both scientists and artists invent methods to communicate within the limitations of their ability to observe, imagine, and configure, guided by the concepts of symmetry lying at the core of cognition. These investigations provide a view of the world that is forever beyond our grasp, a strange meeting place of the objective and the subjective. Although my approach in making this work is often playful, it is also guided by the shifting role intuition can play when confronting an unknown, where one may yield one set of options in order to amplify others.

The languages that we construct for ourselves determine what can be produced, whether theoretically, or actually. Mathematics exist for us as a truly cross cultural language, one shared by even the most disparate ideologies. In some sense, technology is a physical manifestation of that common language, but technology is also the accumulated response to the dilemma of all the unfulfilled desires we attempt to satisfy with technical solutions.

My work combines the use of computer generated imagery with childrens drawing implements like the spirograph. While inevitably coded, these images make themselves accessible to people of diverse backgrounds. Though not strictly painting, my work shares paintings typical format. I have rejected traditional application processes in favor of a unique encaustic method. In it, images are incised into a field of smoothly tooled encaustic, (in a fashion similar to veneer inlay technique). The resulting voids are then filled with hot encaustic, and are shaved down to the surrounding level when cool. This deliberate process yields a range of visibilities not available from other media.

Richard Purdy  May 2000