On the 15th of February FADE invited artist Simon Schofield to give a talk exploring the ideas behind his new series of work. He explained the special software developed, and implications for future images, designs and artworks. The talk was held at in the Red room at the Chelsea college of art and design. There was a range of people from the university at the talk including many students from the MA Digital Arts course at Camberwell. Simon talked about his work for an hour then participated in a panel discussion with Dr. Barbara Rauch and Prof. Paul Coldwell. This discussion also included questions from the audience about his his work and relation to the Personalised surface project. A podcast and video of the evening will be shortly made available on this site.
Here is a brief description of Simon Schofield’s work:
“In Simon Schofield’s images constellations of detailed visual elements are aggregated to form expanses of texture, pattern and substance. This method is used to create vibrant and highly naturalistic re-fabrications of the landscape and nature or to construct images that seem to be simulations or observations of microscopic scientific phenomena. He also uses this approach to explore the limits of drawing and pattern using highly detailed fields of drawn elements, or continual reconfigurations of decorative symbols and motifs. Despite their complexity, his images have a quiet, meditative and oceanic quality. In order to produce these images it was necessary for Simon to develop new software and image-making methodologies. The images produced are extremely high in detail, sometimes using literally millions of compositing operations, and are of very high resolution needing to be printed in order to expose their full richness.Simon is fascinated by the intersection of human expression and technology and, over recent years, has developed several software systems exploring the theme. These including the Piranesi 3-D paint system at Cambridge University, now used by architects and 3-D designer worldwide, and an Interactive Music system AudioROM for which he won a BAFTA in 1998. He was awarded a NESTA Fellowship in 2005 to expand his interests in Generative Image Making. He is a Lecturer in Digital Media at London Metropolitan University and Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Slade School of Fine Art, UCL.”
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