SWEET PAINT JOB

Invisible.

Hands Across the World

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Patrick Tresset found me on linkedin.com and sent me a link to his latest press release. "I think our respective researches share some concerns." This project is swell and is worth a mention.

"Aikon 2 Project launched at Goldsmiths, University of London
Published: 23 February 2009 10:00

Why is it that the inexperienced person finds it so difficult to draw what they see so clearly, while an artist is able to do so often just with a few lines, in a few seconds?

How can an artist draw with an immediately recognisable style, in a particular manner?

And how, and why, can a few lines thrown spontaneously on paper be aesthetically pleasing?

A bold project using computational techniques to examine the activity of drawing - in particular sketching the human face - has been launched at Goldsmiths, University of London.

The AIKON (Autonomous/Artistic/IKONograph) Project has received funding from the Leverhulme Trust to carry out work from 2009 until the end of 2011, and could eventually result in AIKON ‘learning’ to draw in its own style.

The project is being co-ordinated by Professor of Computing at Goldsmiths, Frederic Fol Leymarie and Patrick Tresset, a researcher and artist who has already carried out much work in the area upon which the AIKON Project will build.

Artistic drawing has been practiced in every known civilisation for at least the last 30,000 years and sketching specifically has the particularity of showing the drawing process complete with its hesitations, errors and corrections.

The area of research has been tackled by art historians, psychologists, neuroscientists - such as Arnheim, Fry, Gombrich, Leyton, Ramachandran, Ruskin, Willats and Zeki - who have argued that artists organise their
perception of the world differently.

The AIKON Project will follow two main research paths: one starts from the study of sketches in archives and notes left by artists and the other is based on contemporary scientific and technological knowledge.

Professor Fol Leymarie explains more about the project: “Even if still partial, the accumulated knowledge about our perceptual and other neurobiological systems is advanced enough that, together with recent progress in computational hardware, computer vision and artificial intelligence, we can now try to build sophisticated computational simulations of at least some of the identifiable perceptual and cognitive processes involved in face sketching by artists.”

The most important processes to be studied and simulated within AIKON include the visual perception of the subject, and the dynamically created sketch. It will also study the representation, planning and execution of the drawing gestures; the cognitive activity of reasoning, about the percepts of the sitter and the drawing; the influence of the years of training as a form of memory, and the inter-processes information flows, with a focus on feedback mechanisms - for example when looking back at the sitter or when looking at the partial sketch already performed.

Based on earlier work and results, Frederic and Patrick are expecting AIKON to be able to draw in its own style, with the resulting system having been informed by an artist's insights and also by past artists’ left writings about their creative behaviour."

Each week, a decorated matchbox with a tiny present hidden inside is left by a girl (and sometimes willing friends) somewhere in her travels. It's a random act of semi-artistic kindness aimed at disrupting someone's day in a tiny but positive way. That's if they dare to pick it up...

Sonya Gee first fell into Real Perspective as a featured artist with the launch of REALPERSPECTIVE. Sonya's matchboxes have captured innumerable attention in recent months and at REAL PERSPECTIVE we're proud as punch to be announcing her upcoming show.

As we speak Sonya Gee is in her studio crafting up limited edition matchboxes for a show happening this Wednesday at THE WALL at World Bar in Kings Cross. BID-A-BOX will feature ten matchboxes on display for a silent auction. The winners walk away with part of this project that has been catching phenomenal media attention over the last two years. For more information on this project visit The Matchbox Project!

PERSPECTIVE GAMES

There is a perspectival spanner in the works. Can you find it?

TURN AND DRAW!!

TURN AND DRAW is a group exhibition featuring emerging Sydney artists Tony Curran, Luke Tipene, and Tina Salama. Having met on an all expenses paid British Council "art holiday" in Edinburgh, now they're back to the drawing board. Turning from their more conceptual three-dimensional work this troupe of talent coincidentally discovered that they're latest thing was experimental drawing techniques. This exhibition features a range of drawing approaches from movement studies, abstracts, windswept and figurative works.

This show opens on Wednesday 8th of April at THE WALL at THE WORLD BAR featuring DJs SLEATER BROCKMAN, CASSETTE, 2ONAJOYRIDE MAT MURDOCK.

Leslie Rice is best known for his nocturne paintings on velvet and his dark and dramatic frames than he is for his frescoes. Nevertheless the subject matter in his frescoes has a signiature Rice feel. At MOP Projects you will find the above painting and another like it. The frescoes are stencilled paint art on plaster. It is a time saving technique for these beautifully constructed stereoptic image. But make sure you take your own glasses with you, the artist has not supplied the gallery with any.

Stereoptic images are of particular interest to REAL PERSPECTIVE as they utilize a greater higher order of spatial information for the fore, mid and background recession. A concept that Da Vinci was aware of but hadn't figured out how to execute.

The composition used in this work is effective as the locations of objects are spatially convincing as the disparity of the visual scene increases from fore to back-ground. It seems that the artist has got the knack of a few stereoscopic techniques but is limitted by his use of stencils. A free hand painting would allow for greater development of the composition. I look forward to future stereoptic works by Rice to employ a more complicated map of visual disparity to build a greater sense of depth to the objects as well as between them.

Small Present for Neighbours

Matchboxes, lucky dips, and small presents for strangers are among the feel-good repertoire that makes up artist Sonya Gee. It seems that everywhere this emerging practitioner infiltrates ends up richer and sweeter than it was before.

So it is no surprise that upon this lady's decision to leave her family home where she grew up, move to the big city where she can fulfill her dreams of cupcakeries, wardrobes and strawberry pancakes, she put together a tribute to her home town; something to remember her by.

Neighbourhood Watch is Sonya's latest work. Curated by Tony Curran, it's a microhistory exhibition at Brush Farm Park which tells stories of characters around the City of Ryde who "you won't find on google". The exhibition is marked with non-celebrity photos and stories of good citizens from a cake shop to a primary school aerobics instructor.

The Night was officially opened by Vic Tagg, the Mayor of Ryde, with an address by Maxine Mackew whose political campaign unseated the former Australian Prime Minister in the Bennelong electorate surrounding Ryde. Her campaign was a pivotal community moment in recent Ryde history and her address on the opening night placed her within the exhibition among all the other artifacts of the community identity.


Neighbourhood Watch opened last night and will run until the 7th of April. Open Wednesday through Saturday 11am -4pm at 19 Lawson St, Eastwood.