“Taking the Plunge” by Susan Alexis Collins
Title:
- Taking the Plunge
Artist(s) and People Involved:
- Susan Alexis Collins
-
- University College London
Exhibiting Artist(s):
Symposium:
Artist Statement:
My basic interest in using a computer is as a tool, a new drawing instrument, an addition to the traditional techniques. Rather than being involved with the technology of the computer itself, I have used a ‘Draw’ programme, devised by research assistants at University College London on the Sun Workstations.
What excites me most about this ‘Tool’ is its challenge to previous concepts of the ‘Original’ and the ‘Limited Edition’ within Fine Art. One drawing can be enlarged, rotated, shaded, multiplied, united with other drawings, explored to the perimeters of its possibilities, and yet still exist to be printed out in its initial format. The potential of even a simple ink and brush drawing can be exploited using the computer as a fast, efficient method of exploring ideas that can then feed back into other media, a valuable interchange which can serve to extend boundaries both visually and mentally beyond the computer work itself.
There is a certain enjoyable irony in using such ‘inhuman’ equipment and, at present, a prevailingly male dominated field, to produce Art about absurdities within human and sexual relationships, pregnancy, and other lighter female statements. The pieces I have included in this exhibition are examples of this. Five are A4 printouts of drawings explored and expanded using the Sun Workstations, and the other three collage computer drawings printed on acetate with other media.
