“Modern Cave II” by Romeu Bessa
Title:
- Modern Cave II
Artist(s) and People Involved:
Exhibiting Artist(s):
Symposium:
Venue(s):
Creation Year:
- 1992
Medium:
- Computer generated image, cybachrome print
Size:
- 8 in x 12 in
Artist Statement:
I am a painter. Although, since 1987 I have been imagemaking with computers as well. I use the computer as a medium in the same way that as a painter I use my brushes and my oil paints. I am fascinated by the similarities and by the differences between the two media, computer graphics and oil painting. I like to use the mouse knowing that the image on the screen is a “translation” of the movements of my hand. This “translation” is the result of digital codes being processed by a machine. Oil painting, by contrast, is the movement of the brush in my hand carrying the paint on the canvas. The investigation of this ontological difference is at the core of my work.
The visual complexity of my computer images is directly related to my painting. Whereas painting has its origin in the beginning of imagemaking (sometimes in caves), computer images point to a new kind of communication in a new kind of space. As the dark hole of the cave houses the visions of a particular age, so the black box of the computer stores the images of a new time. Cyberspace — a modern cave.
