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THE ARTIST'S VISION

The artist's vision ought to begin with an "I" statement. "Why?" you might ask. The short answer, for me, has to do with the individual being able to draw upon the conventions of his or her society, expressive and material culture, and craft and make them distinct.

On these gallery pages, you will find an eclectic ensemble of images, sometimes representational, sometimes abstract and conceptual, and sometimes surreal. I trap and form reality in different styles. I have little patience for ideology that claims that one way of visualizing reality is better or "good-er" than any other way. At bottom, all imagery is expressed by dots on a viewed plane (whether that two or more dimensional plane be paper, canvas, film or cyberspace). Technology advances and the dots become less visible, or they become raised and are given substance. Still, the images are ultimately digital; the way in which the artist forms those dots is an open-ended game. Some artists will bind themselves to a particular period in time, or to a particular style, or may be forced into such adherence by societal dictates. I have the luxury of living in a fairly free environment, and with a technology that allows quite a bit of flexibility with dot form. For that, I am thankful.

Is my art anarchy? No. I still look at my emerging imagery for "goodness" of color, form, composition, thematic focus, technical proficiency, and then how it is output onto various media. My training in technical drawing, in cut and paste photo collages, and more recently with the tools of software artistry, as well as being exposed to U.S. of A. culture over the last half century, to growing up in Brooklyn, living in Colombia and Mexico, and now in San Diego, has certainly shaped my sense of "goodness." But then, my choices give substance to whether or not my expressions merit enjoyment as good art. For an expanded perspective, see the Aesthetic Puzzle.

This poster illustrates how a photograph can be cropped and manipulated (digitally composited) into a fine art image. The photograph lacks adequate resolution to survive as a photorealistic image; however, digital composition provides the opportunity to remake the image.



I hope you enjoy visiting my art gallery.

Joe Nalven