What do you do? For nearly the last four years I have been attempting to program a computer to draw in a way that is distinctly human, rather then stylistically digital or mechanistic.
When did you get into it? From a very young age, before the beginning of my memory, I have always been obsessed with drawing. Somewhere along the way Alistair Riddell, sound artist and lecturer at the ANU, exposed me to the possibilities of programming. To paraphrase Harold Cohen, programming provided me with a harder surface to bash my ideas against.
Who or what influences you as an artist? The aesthetics of diagrams and abandoned scraps of notes intrigue me, as they are ephemeral records of thinking. Some of the artists that inspire me are Tim Hawkinson, Keith Tyson and Sol LeWitt. In fact, their work makes me excited like a child. Art should be exciting.
What’s your biggest achievement/proudest moment so far? Two recent events are having my work accepted for Hatched ’09 at PICA, and becoming a resident at Canberra Contemporary Art Space.
What are your plans for the future? I’m currently in the midst of planning a six month residency at SymbioticA, to continue exploring the extensions of drawing, although replacing computers with biological materials, such as fungi, bacteria and animal cells. What is drawing? And can a drawing be living?
What makes you laugh? The world, people and sex. It is all hilarious and far too messy and complicated. I just have to laugh as we all run around with a false sense of certainty.
What pisses you off? I try not to get angry, but self-righteous and ignorantly applied moral judgements generally agitate me.
What’s your opinion of the local scene? Canberra is a great place to be an emerging artist because if you’re passionate and enthusiastic about what you are doing there is a lot of support.
Upcoming exhibitions? Keep an eye on the buildings around the Civic and Belconnen areas, as my new work will be sporadically projected on to the facades in the upcoming months as part of the BEAM Projection Group.
Contact Info www.emptybook.net. Find out more about SymbioticA at www.symbiotica.uwa.edu.au.
