Personal Statement
I am addressing issues of authenticity by producing an organic mark and attempting to simulate it through a controlled process. By doing this I raise questions about originality. What makes something original? By replicating an autonomous gesture the work considers both difference and the authentic as value systems. Is something as seemingly insignificant as a watery pool of paint given value when it stimulates a process of replication? I want to challenge the viewer to look more closely at the work in order to differentiate between the authentic mark and its simulation;
" To look at a thing is very different from seeing it."
(Oscar Wilde)
The nature of the process suggests a momentary, simple action, but the image contains a complexity, which is impossible to copy exactly. In the some pieces the difference is much more obvious, because th the original and simulation are displayed side by side, while some present more of a challenge because the original image has been manipulated. Because some imitations are more obvious than others, I am essentially playing a game with the viewer, which stimulates a greater depth of looking.
" The jewel that we find, we stoop and take't Because we see it, but what we do not see we tread upon "
(William Shakepeare)