11/24/09
Small Assemblage Photos
Here are examples of the 3D photo cut-ups I have been working on the past couple weeks. These are photos that I have taken of family, friends or my art work, which I then use to create 3D cut-ups. Most are small--4X6 or 8X10 inches, so they work in a variety of smaller environments. They are mounted on canvas board.
11/9/09
Odd Mall Was a Success!
Here is a picture of my wife, Maggie, and our daughter, Ruby at the OddMall Show--the art show in Hudson Ohio we set up shop at this past weekend. We had a lot of fun, got to meet some great people, and we actually sold a few things. Not bad for a day's work. Thanks to everyone who came to our booth and supported us. See you soon at the next OddMall Show.
Click here to get information about the show
11/4/09
Complex Network Sculpture
Here is a complex network sculpture I did. I used foam-core, toothpicks, wooden sticks(all painted in acrylic) to create this sculpture. I wanted to see what a network would look like in 3-D. The networks currently used in science are usually compressed into a 2-D space. Here is what I came up with. I think it is rather nifty.
Odd Mall Show, Saturday, Nov 7th
Click here to get information about the show
For local folks, the Art & Science Factory (my business) will be selling its wares at the Odd Mall Show in Hudson Ohio! This is one of the best art venues in Northeastern Ohio. Incredibly great art and lots of "out there" stuff. We went last year and spent lots of money. This year will be even better because we are in the show! Ha!
11/3/09
Network Musings
This is a painting I recently completed that addresses several influences I have been wrestling with. On the scientific side is the new science of networks; on the artistic side is Italian art, surrealism, abstraction and pop. More specifically, my goal was to find the middle grounded between a scientific and artistic approach to social networks. The network in this painting is from my research on social networks in medical education.
The painting is mixed media: acrylic paint and cut-out, 3-D foam core and poster board. The painting is 24 X 48 inches.
10/13/09
MFA in Computational Art
Okay, this is amazing! At Goldsmiths, University of London, you can get an MFA in computational art.
Here is a description of the program.
Here is a link to projects.
Here is a description of the program.
Here is a link to projects.
What is Generative Art? Complexity Theory as a Context for Art Theory
Okay, this is about as "out there" as art gets. I found this fascinating article by Philip Galanter, of the Interactive Telecommunications Program, New York City, USA.
The title of the article is:
What is Generative Art? Complexity Theory as a Context for Art Theory.
Here is the abstract from the paper:
Abstract
In this paper an attempt is made to offer a definition of generative art that is inclusive and provides fertile ground for both technical and art theoretical development. First the use of systems is identified as a key element in generative art. Various ideas from
complexity theory are then introduced. It is noted that systems exist on a continuum from the highly ordered to the highly disordered. Citing examples from information
theory and complexity science, it is noted that highly ordered and highly disordered systems are typically viewed as simple, and complex systems exhibit both order and disorder. This leads to the adoption of effective complexity, order, and disorder as organizing principles in the comparison of various generative art systems. This inclusive view leads to the somewhat surprising observation that generative art is as old as art itself. A number of specific artists and studies are discussed within this systems and complexity theory influenced paradigm. Finally a number of art theoretical questions are introduced to exercise the suggested generative art definition and implicit paradigm.
As I understand this paper, generative art follows the guidelines of complexity science and, more specifically, Joshua Epstein's work on generative computational social science. Here, the idea is that art is generated from the bottom-up by some iterative artistic process, followed to its logical conclusions, forming some type of emergent system. The rules can be anything--paint right, then left, then up, each turn of the paint being a different color, to produce some painting.
These paintings can be highly ordered or fall into total chaos. One can catalogue these various systems paintings, and so forth. In my mind, Chuck Close's abstract portraits is a good example of a highly ordered complex system. Galanter may disagree. Either way, it is a very interesting and provocative paper worth reading.
The title of the article is:
What is Generative Art? Complexity Theory as a Context for Art Theory.
Here is the abstract from the paper:
Abstract
In this paper an attempt is made to offer a definition of generative art that is inclusive and provides fertile ground for both technical and art theoretical development. First the use of systems is identified as a key element in generative art. Various ideas from
complexity theory are then introduced. It is noted that systems exist on a continuum from the highly ordered to the highly disordered. Citing examples from information
theory and complexity science, it is noted that highly ordered and highly disordered systems are typically viewed as simple, and complex systems exhibit both order and disorder. This leads to the adoption of effective complexity, order, and disorder as organizing principles in the comparison of various generative art systems. This inclusive view leads to the somewhat surprising observation that generative art is as old as art itself. A number of specific artists and studies are discussed within this systems and complexity theory influenced paradigm. Finally a number of art theoretical questions are introduced to exercise the suggested generative art definition and implicit paradigm.
As I understand this paper, generative art follows the guidelines of complexity science and, more specifically, Joshua Epstein's work on generative computational social science. Here, the idea is that art is generated from the bottom-up by some iterative artistic process, followed to its logical conclusions, forming some type of emergent system. The rules can be anything--paint right, then left, then up, each turn of the paint being a different color, to produce some painting.
These paintings can be highly ordered or fall into total chaos. One can catalogue these various systems paintings, and so forth. In my mind, Chuck Close's abstract portraits is a good example of a highly ordered complex system. Galanter may disagree. Either way, it is a very interesting and provocative paper worth reading.
Complexity and Art
For the past couple weeks I have been touring the web looking for anything I can find on the relationship between complexity and art. To my surprise I've found some very amazing stuff.
One of the first things I found is a book my the well-known mathematician and complexity scientist, John Casti and a colleague of his, Anders Karlqvist, of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is called Complexity and Art.
(Click here to see a preview on Google Books)
The book is the outcome of a one-week meeting of complexity scientists and artists in Sweden, during which they explored how artists conceptualize and deal with complexity. In this case, they explored complexity as both an aesthetic and empirical topic. The meeting took place in 1998 and the book was published in 2002. Albeit a bit old, the book is very fascinating and worth an explore!
One of the first things I found is a book my the well-known mathematician and complexity scientist, John Casti and a colleague of his, Anders Karlqvist, of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is called Complexity and Art.
(Click here to see a preview on Google Books)
The book is the outcome of a one-week meeting of complexity scientists and artists in Sweden, during which they explored how artists conceptualize and deal with complexity. In this case, they explored complexity as both an aesthetic and empirical topic. The meeting took place in 1998 and the book was published in 2002. Albeit a bit old, the book is very fascinating and worth an explore!
9/12/09
The Big Duh Self-Portrait
This past week I painted my first self-portrait. My brilliant nephew, Kevin Rusnak, took the photo of me at a family barbecue.
I decided to call this painting The Big Duh Self-Portrait, in homage to Chuck Close's Big Self-Portrait and to Richard Avedon--two of my favorite artists. Despite all my interest in complexity, I am ultimately drawn to the human face and portrait. Painting this picture was a lot of fun--albeit a bit weird, as I have never painted myself before. As you also can see, I very much enjoy self-deprecating humor--not something as widely celebrated in highbrow art as it should.
Here is a SLIDE SHOW of the portrait as I worked on it.
9/8/09
cartoon comics complexity -- or, one big mob
I have always been a huge comics fan. I wasn't so much into the superhero genre, though. I was drawn more to humor, social critique and science-fiction comics. In particular, I was a huge fan of MAD Magazine. My specific heroes were Don Martin, Sergio Aragonés, and those drawing during the 1970s, early 1980s.
For some reason, I have always treated comics as something worthy of the canvas. As such, for years, I have been painting, as well as drawing, comic characters. Most of my work aims at creating complex forms. My inspiration comes from complexity science--in particular, fractals, chaos theory, and dynamical systems--and, in terms of art, the complex forms created by many Asian wood and ivory carvings, and by the various battle and group scenes sculpted, carved or painted during the Renaissance. In fact, many of my cartoons are 3-D: i start with some backdrop (canvas, wood, foamcore board) upon which i glue various 3-D figures. it is very time consuming and tedious, but the result is very satisfying.
I call my cartoon complexity OneBigMob.
For more pictures, visit my website.
If you really dig these images, see my cartoon t-shirts at my Cafe Press store.
9/2/09
Pockets Full of Memories -- Complexity Art
On 1 Sept 2009 I posted on the "SOM for qualitative data" work done by Timo Honkela and colleagues at the Helsinki University of Technology. Exploring Timo Honkela's work further, I found out that he and his colleagues are also involved in the application of the SOM to the world of art.
They were involved (2003-2006) in an incredible interactive exhibition at the Centre Pompidou Museum of Modern Art in Paris.
Here is a brief description of the exhibition from the website--which you can visit by clicking here.
"Pockets Full of Memories" is an interactive installation that consists of a data collection station where the public takes a digital image of an object, adds descriptive keywords, and rates its properties using a touchscreen. The data accumulates through-out the length of the exhibition. The Kohonen self-organizing map algorithm is used to organize the data, moving the images of the objects into an ordered state according to similarities defined by the contributors’ semantic descriptions. The archive of objects is projected large-scale on the walls of the gallery space showing various visualizations such as the objects positioned in the 2D matrix, their movement over time, and textual descriptions. The audience can also interact with the data online to access descriptions of the objects and to contribute comments and messages to each object from anywhere in the world.
They were involved (2003-2006) in an incredible interactive exhibition at the Centre Pompidou Museum of Modern Art in Paris.
Here is a brief description of the exhibition from the website--which you can visit by clicking here.
"Pockets Full of Memories" is an interactive installation that consists of a data collection station where the public takes a digital image of an object, adds descriptive keywords, and rates its properties using a touchscreen. The data accumulates through-out the length of the exhibition. The Kohonen self-organizing map algorithm is used to organize the data, moving the images of the objects into an ordered state according to similarities defined by the contributors’ semantic descriptions. The archive of objects is projected large-scale on the walls of the gallery space showing various visualizations such as the objects positioned in the 2D matrix, their movement over time, and textual descriptions. The audience can also interact with the data online to access descriptions of the objects and to contribute comments and messages to each object from anywhere in the world.
9/1/09
Grounded Neural Networking
If you are into neural nets, you know about the Laboratory of Computer and Information Science at the Helsinki University of Technology. One of the Department's most important professors is Teuvo Kohonen, the creator of the self-organizing map algorithm (SOM). The deparment also provides one of the best shareware downloads (SOM Toolbox) for using the SOM--it runs in the MatLab environment.
As I discussed in a previous blog (4/01/09), in 2003 I published an article in Symbolic Interaction exploring how qualitative researchers can use the SOM to conduct grounded theoretical investigations of large, complex, numerical databases. For the next six years, I sat around hoping someone other than myself would find the idea interesting and useful. Nothing happened! I know that publishing on mixed methods seldom goes anywhere, but I thought that, with the incredible advances taking place in complexity science and informatics and the internet, qualitative researchers would eventually consider the idea.
They have yet to do so. But, perhaps the latest article by Nina Janasik, Timo Honkela, and Henrik Bruun of the Helsinki University of Technology can change people's minds.
The title of their article is TEXT MINING IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH. The purpose of the article is to show qualitative researchers how to apply the SOM to qualitative data.
Here is the abstract:
---------------------------------------------
ABSTRACT
The article provides an introduction to and a demonstration of the self-organizing map (SOM) method for organizational researchers interested in the use of qualitative data. The SOM is a versatile quantitative method very commonly used across many disciplines to analyze large data sets. The outcome of the SOM analysis is a map in which entities are positioned according to similarity. The authors' argument is that text mining using the SOM is particularly effective in improving inference quality within qualitative research. SOM creates multiple well-grounded perspectives on the data and thus improves the quality of the concepts and categories used in the analysis.
---------------------------------------------
When I read this article I was more than a little excited! I cannot tell you how much time I spent between 2001 and 2003 at the Helsinki website trying to learn about the SOM and figuring out how to use the SOM Toolbox. Let's just say it was a lot and leave it at that. I also cannot tell you how much respect I have for the researchers there. Incredible research; they make their work and software freely available to others. It is just fantastic.
I also have to say that Janasik, Honkela, and Bruun do an excellent job addressing the limitations of my 2003 article--in particular, how I did not go far enough in demonstrating just how useful the SOM is for qualitative work. As such, I agree completely with their critique. And, I agree that any qualitative researcher trying to figure out how to do their work in the digital age should read this article.
Enough said...
Key Words: grounded theory • constructivism • self-organizing map • text mining • document interpretation
As I discussed in a previous blog (4/01/09), in 2003 I published an article in Symbolic Interaction exploring how qualitative researchers can use the SOM to conduct grounded theoretical investigations of large, complex, numerical databases. For the next six years, I sat around hoping someone other than myself would find the idea interesting and useful. Nothing happened! I know that publishing on mixed methods seldom goes anywhere, but I thought that, with the incredible advances taking place in complexity science and informatics and the internet, qualitative researchers would eventually consider the idea.
They have yet to do so. But, perhaps the latest article by Nina Janasik, Timo Honkela, and Henrik Bruun of the Helsinki University of Technology can change people's minds.
The title of their article is TEXT MINING IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH. The purpose of the article is to show qualitative researchers how to apply the SOM to qualitative data.
Here is the abstract:
---------------------------------------------
ABSTRACT
The article provides an introduction to and a demonstration of the self-organizing map (SOM) method for organizational researchers interested in the use of qualitative data. The SOM is a versatile quantitative method very commonly used across many disciplines to analyze large data sets. The outcome of the SOM analysis is a map in which entities are positioned according to similarity. The authors' argument is that text mining using the SOM is particularly effective in improving inference quality within qualitative research. SOM creates multiple well-grounded perspectives on the data and thus improves the quality of the concepts and categories used in the analysis.
---------------------------------------------
When I read this article I was more than a little excited! I cannot tell you how much time I spent between 2001 and 2003 at the Helsinki website trying to learn about the SOM and figuring out how to use the SOM Toolbox. Let's just say it was a lot and leave it at that. I also cannot tell you how much respect I have for the researchers there. Incredible research; they make their work and software freely available to others. It is just fantastic.
I also have to say that Janasik, Honkela, and Bruun do an excellent job addressing the limitations of my 2003 article--in particular, how I did not go far enough in demonstrating just how useful the SOM is for qualitative work. As such, I agree completely with their critique. And, I agree that any qualitative researcher trying to figure out how to do their work in the digital age should read this article.
Enough said...
Key Words: grounded theory • constructivism • self-organizing map • text mining • document interpretation
8/28/09
Mother & Daughter Assemblage
Here is a photographic example of the assemblage process. In this photo a mom and her daughter are integrated to form a system and yet their differences remain. Note the similarities in eyes, chin, nose, etc as these part are assembled into one another to form the picture.
8/16/09
Reuben Margolin -- think Leonardo Da Vinci meets Complexity Science
Okay, just in case you do not agree with my art postings about the connection between art and complexity science, you need to look at the work of Reuben Margolin. He is a modern day Leonardo Da Vinci! If you did not think art and math and dynamical systems had anything to do with one another, then it is time for you to change your mind.
Reuben Margolin does kinetic sculptures--sculptures of geometry, dynamical systems, waves, etc. it is art meets math.
Click here to watch a great video of his work.
Or, you can visit his website, which has lots of video links on YouTube.
I am just in awe of this guy's work!
Reuben Margolin does kinetic sculptures--sculptures of geometry, dynamical systems, waves, etc. it is art meets math.
Click here to watch a great video of his work.
Or, you can visit his website, which has lots of video links on YouTube.
I am just in awe of this guy's work!
8/13/09
Complexity Artist, Damon Soule
Damon Soule is another artist that, to me, represents a new development within the art world--artists trying to achieve synthesis (synthetic wholes) out of the evolving merger of various, and often times, disparate parts, times, perspectives, places, etc. I consider these works of art to be what I call complexity paintings.
Like Oliver Vernon (who I blogged about recently), Damon Soule applies his incredible talent to the creation of n-dimensional topographies, resulting in some amazing systems paintings. Check out Soule's work at his website.
Like Oliver Vernon (who I blogged about recently), Damon Soule applies his incredible talent to the creation of n-dimensional topographies, resulting in some amazing systems paintings. Check out Soule's work at his website.
8/7/09
Space Madonna 2 -- a complexity theory painting
Here is a second version of my Space Madonna. The focus in this painting, as in most of my work, is the creation of a multi-singularity; that is, an assemblage of disparate elements (multiplicity) that form a whole (singularity).
Space Madonna -- a complexity theory painting
Here is a painting I recently completed, or one version of it. It combines cubism, abstract expressionism, pop, illustration, icons, and surrealism into one painting, with the focus on my approach to art--see previous post. It also draws upon my recent interest in the work of Oliver Vernon.
Complexity Artist, Oliver Vernon
If you follow this blog at all, you know that I apply complexity science to both my work in medical sociology and art.
I want to highlight an incredible artist I have been following. His name is Oliver Vernon.
What is fascinating about his work is its assembled quality. It draws upon and integrates so much from the past hundred years of art, from abstract expressionism to surrealism to pop. It also is a combination of organic and machine-like forms. Most important--and I saw this mentioned in several reviews of his work--it is a combination of chaos and order, like some type of chaotic self-organized order. I have included several links here to his work.
I do not know if Vernon intends his work to address complexity. But, I definitely think his work appeals to and has a lot to say about complexity through the tools of visual art.
Out of respect for copyright, I have not posted a picture of his work in this blog--but just click on any link below to see his incredible work
1. Oliver Vernon's website
2. A Youtube video of one of his shows
3. A list of Google Images of his work
4. Here is a blog showing some pictures
I want to highlight an incredible artist I have been following. His name is Oliver Vernon.
What is fascinating about his work is its assembled quality. It draws upon and integrates so much from the past hundred years of art, from abstract expressionism to surrealism to pop. It also is a combination of organic and machine-like forms. Most important--and I saw this mentioned in several reviews of his work--it is a combination of chaos and order, like some type of chaotic self-organized order. I have included several links here to his work.
I do not know if Vernon intends his work to address complexity. But, I definitely think his work appeals to and has a lot to say about complexity through the tools of visual art.
Out of respect for copyright, I have not posted a picture of his work in this blog--but just click on any link below to see his incredible work
1. Oliver Vernon's website
2. A Youtube video of one of his shows
3. A list of Google Images of his work
4. Here is a blog showing some pictures
7/19/09
Urbino Sociocybernetics Conference Papers
Well, I am back from a couple weeks in Europe where I attended the sociocybernetics conference in Urbino. The conference focus was life on the web, and related to this topic, e-science and web science.
Here is a link to the conference website.
Here is a link to the papers presented at the conference.
Here is a link to the paper I presented, including my powerpoint. NOTE: click on Paper #6.
My paper and presentation explore how the SACS Toolkit is useful for modeling complex systems using web-based (digital) data.
It was a fantastic conference and I met a bunch of really great people! Thanks to Fabio Giglietto and his graduate students for hosting a great conference!
Here is a link to the conference website.
Here is a link to the papers presented at the conference.
Here is a link to the paper I presented, including my powerpoint. NOTE: click on Paper #6.
My paper and presentation explore how the SACS Toolkit is useful for modeling complex systems using web-based (digital) data.
It was a fantastic conference and I met a bunch of really great people! Thanks to Fabio Giglietto and his graduate students for hosting a great conference!
6/23/09
Foucault & Complexity
The past several days I have been searching the web for articles or books that explore the connections between Foucault's work and complexity science. I am happy to report that I have found a few very interesting things.
First, Kurt Richardson and Paul Cilliers (who have written some incredible stuff on complexity and management and complexity and philosophy) have a book Explorations in Complexity Thinking. It is an edited book comprised of the pre-proceedings submitted for the two-day Complexity and Philosophy workshop held 22nd-23rd February 2007, in Stellenbosch, South Africa.
One of the pre-postings is by Ken Baskin, who is affliated with The Instititute for the Study of Coherence and Emergence (ISCE), which originally grew out of the New England Complex Systems Institute's Organizational-Related Programmes department in mid-1999.
Baskin's paper is Foucault, Complexity, and Myth: Toward a Complexity-based Approach to Social Evolution (a.k.a. History). (You can preview the paper by opening the cover in Amazon and going to it--it is the first chapter in the book)
Second is Mark Olssen's Foucault as Complexity Theorist: Overcoming the problems of classical philosophical analysis. Published in Educational Philosophy and Theory. Olssen is at the University of Surrey.
As I come across more articles and books I will post them.
First, Kurt Richardson and Paul Cilliers (who have written some incredible stuff on complexity and management and complexity and philosophy) have a book Explorations in Complexity Thinking. It is an edited book comprised of the pre-proceedings submitted for the two-day Complexity and Philosophy workshop held 22nd-23rd February 2007, in Stellenbosch, South Africa.
One of the pre-postings is by Ken Baskin, who is affliated with The Instititute for the Study of Coherence and Emergence (ISCE), which originally grew out of the New England Complex Systems Institute's Organizational-Related Programmes department in mid-1999.
Baskin's paper is Foucault, Complexity, and Myth: Toward a Complexity-based Approach to Social Evolution (a.k.a. History). (You can preview the paper by opening the cover in Amazon and going to it--it is the first chapter in the book)
Second is Mark Olssen's Foucault as Complexity Theorist: Overcoming the problems of classical philosophical analysis. Published in Educational Philosophy and Theory. Olssen is at the University of Surrey.
As I come across more articles and books I will post them.
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