ABOUT THIS SERIES
My Wireframe series began in 2004 as an outgrowth of my Metagraph series of abstract digital drawings. The earlier Metagraph compositions consisted primarily of hand-drawn forms which were sketched on a Wacom digitizing tablet in Adobe Illustrator. A piece entitled Suggesture was the first in which I started to experiment with some of the 3D tools in the software; these allowed the extrapolation of a contour into a 3D form though the rotation of the contour in space. I experimented with several different rendering styles, and liked the way that wireframe rendering referenced the visual language of technology, informed stylistically by the CAD (computer-aided design) drawings used in engineering and architecture.
Eventually, I started to use the tools more freely, making gestural marks and rotating them in space to create “volumetric gestures”. I also began to experiment with applying mathematical transformations and perspective to the wireframes to distort them info more organic and interesting forms.
In 2005, I began to investigate printing with my ink onto hand-painted surfaces. At the time, I was using an Epson 2200, which could accommodate paper up to 13 x 19 inches. I discovered through a process of trial-and-error that ink ink stuck rather nicely to latex house paint. I started creating underpaintings on paper with Benjamin Moore latex glazes. I liked the fact that pearlescent and metallic colors were available, allowing me to develop surface treatments and colors which could not be achieved through ink printing alone.
Once I had the “ground” painted, I photographed it digitally and imported it into Illustrator. In an overlying digital layer, I created a complimentary digitally-drawn composition, often containing the wireframe forms I had been developing. I found the contrast between the gestural underpainting and the intricate line work of the wireframes to be very satisfying visually, and eventually developed this process into larger and larger works.
As this series has progressed over the last fifteen years, I have expanded beyond works on paper, and in 2006 began creating Wireframe paintings using canvas and linen as substrates, as well as incorporating different media for the painted component, including India ink wash and oil paints.
As a graduate student within Bowling Green State University’s MFA Computer Art Program, I created a series of Wireframe mixed-media works using an industrial laser etcher on marble and wood panels.
The works in my Wireframe series are the primary aesthetic basis for the style I have defined as “Techspressionism”, a concept that began as the name of a 2011 solo exhibition at 4 North Main Gallery in Southampton NY.
The development of this body of work was accelerated in part by a 2013 grant from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, which enabled me to add a 44” wide large-format printer to my studio facilities.