November 1982

Artist Statement November 1982

My Background is in painting. I’ve used many mediums including acrylic, watercolor color, silkscreen, lithography, etching, paper, ceramics, etc. The computer is my favorite. It is closest to my sensibilities. It allows me to create images in an endless variety of ways and constantly challenges me to try new ideas. In a way making the image on the computer is the easy part. The hard part is taking image off the system and turning it into an art object, i.e.. physical reality. Until I have a finished art work in some physical medium the image exists only in the memory of the computer or on the CRT (TV screen).

Many artists are interested in moving pictures, film and video, but I am not. I want my images to up over time as all great works of art have from the past. The challenge for me is to develop ways of creating images on computers, and then take them and fabricate finished works that can hang on walls, cover floors or ceilings. To date I have done editions of prints, ciba-chromes, ceramic tiles, printed fabric, and murals on canvas using my computer images.

Each physical medium has its strengths and limitations. Part of the difficulty is determining what medium will enhance a specific image. Finding new ways to take information from the computer system so that this information is in a usable form is another area that requires a lot of research. Each time I create a piece it is the culmination of experimentation with many parameters.  Of course I remain an artist and keep aesthetic concerns in mind as I work.

I am a formalist painter, I paint directly with light, colored light.

Darcy Gerbarg