ARTIST STATEMENT

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Circuit, 2001
photograph/photographic print of digital image 24x34 inches

DANIEL CHARLES WIGLEY

My works are photographic prints of digital images that I produce using math software, image-processing software, and digital scans of objects. Inventing my own equations, I use math software (primarily Tiera-Zon2 and GrafZViZion) to develop the underlying structures of the images. These programs generate abstract patterns based on fractal mathematics. Using processing software (Photoshop), I combine and alter these structures using filters and digital painting tools. Some works may have long hours of digital “hand” painting in them. I may also include material from scanned objects. During the production process, some of the images may exceed 2 gigabytes in size. Large file sizes are needed to obtain high-resolution output on a Lightjet printer.

Each of my digital abstractions is created through a long process of exploration and discovery. In this process, nature emerges in many ways. Nature or my experience of nature guides my exploration. My digital tools help me in this search, and there is a strong element of automatism in this process. I never know what my equations will produce or what exactly will happen when I process the images. In a sense, my digital tools act as midwives, helping me realize what it is about nature that I’m looking for. Much of the time my efforts produce nothing. I often struggle. Most of the time I’m lost. But sometimes the exploration produces what I’m looking for, and I rejoice in the discovery. What I discover almost always surprises me. I just never really know what I’m searching for until I see it. But it will always be some aspect of nature.