Virtual Art
Layers in a virtual artwork
"All artists are prepared to suffer for their work, but why are so few prepared to learn to draw?"
-Banksy
Over the years I
have thought about what it is that I feel defines virtual art. The questions I asked myself were what makes it unique over other mediums such
as painting, sculpture or cinema? I am
going to do a series of posts explaining my thoughts on this subject, and it
will be split into what I see as "layers" to an artwork created in a
virtual space. This is just my perspective and I am sure others may have completely different ways of viewing artwork created in virtual worlds or perhaps their focus lies in a different direction. There are no "rules" in art but it is good to formulate observations and that is my intention. The first layer which I
will speak about now is the artwork itself.
For a while now I have been a practicing
artist in Toronto, Canada. During this
time I have concentrated mainly on the traditional medium of oil painting. Although I enjoyed very much working with
static imagery, I had at the same time many ideas that were unrelated to what I
was, at the time, painting. Many of these
ideas I wanted to convey were narratives involving characters and
environments. Narratives that had more
depth or duration than I could achieve in my paintings which were essentially a
snapshot in time. My medium was paint,
and these ideas weren’t coming through the way I had imagined them to. It was around 2006 that this all
changed. That was when I was introduced
to virtual worlds primarily through Second Life.
I decided to try
the online world of Second Life out of curiosity, after reading about it in the
newspaper. What I found, to my surprise,
was a medium which afforded some very innovative ways of making art. Having a background education in both the
visual fine arts and computer animation, I was immediately drawn to the look
and construction of virtual world art.
Finally, I had found a place where I could develop my stories and
characters in ways I had never thought possible. Working
within a virtual world meant that I could create art works that have more
interaction between the viewer and creator than many traditional art forms, but
why might there be a deeper level of immersion?
In 2D painting the viewer generally observes the
work from a fixed point directly in front of the artwork, and they are able to interact or connect with
it on a certain level. From this static viewing point the viewer is
subconsciously influenced by elements within the painting. There are many ways to influence the viewer
by using things ranging from colour to symbolism, and to give an idea of one method
I will focus on the "eyepath" created through subtle manipulation of
the paintings composition. I will then
loop these ideas back to how some relate to creating art in virtual worlds.
This work by
Mattia Preti is a good example of how to create an eyepath, which is a term that generally refers to how your eye subconsciously moves around within the
composition of a painting. Essentially
when you view an artwork your eye usually enters from the bottom right side of
a painting and follows in a counter clockwise circle moving from focal point to
focal point. A focal point is a place in
an artwork intended to draw your attention.
Some artists are aware of this phenomenon and will work on the 2D plane
to lead the viewers eye around their artwork.
They are attempting to cycle the viewers eye for as long as possible, as
the eye can leave a painting quite easily if the composition is poor. If your eye leaves the painting then the
connection or immersion is broken and it is difficult to renew that connection.
Your eye will be drawn to and follow
contrasting colours such as white against black. The high contrast will draw your eye
there. In this example you can see high
contrast in the foreground figures leg against the white table cloth at the
bottom center.
The angle of this area of contrast points upward towards the
right hand side to where a woman is
pointing at the central figure. Your
eye follows her gaze or finger to the focal point of the entire painting which
is the murder of Amnon by Absalom, son of King David, for the rape of his
sister Tamar.
I have made some directional lines in the painting to help
see the parts I am referring to.
If you are walking down the street and see a group of people
looking in a shop window, there is a very good chance you also will peer in as
you walk by, just out of curiosity.
Point at something and humans will look automatically. Cats won't but humans will. Similar to this your eye will also follow what figures in a
painting are looking or pointing at. It
will also move to unique areas that stand out.
So if a painting, for example, is made up of a majority of triangular sharp
shapes, the eye will naturally be drawn to a single soft circular shape because
of its uniqueness within the painting environment. Same would be true for a painting composed
predominately in blue, which had a small area of red in it. Your eye would typically go first to the red
portion.
In the painting before us,
all the figures are vertical whereas the main character, whom the artist
wants you to focus on, is horizontal.
If you look at the dark strip of
black in the top center of the painting it contrasts strikingly against the
blue area on its left side and the assassins hand which holds an important
narrative element to the painting... a
knife.
Both knives are hard to see against the dark background
which forces the viewer to focus on them longer or notice them at a later
time. When they are discovered the eye
studies them longer because they are a found object with a sense of mystery. When they are discovered you imagine their sharpness and the figures complete vulnerability to them. Also it is the moment before violence which generally is more powerful than the act of or aftermath to violence. If you have seen my build Anna's Many Murders you may have noticed that despite the title you don't actually see Anna murder anyone.
Your eye follows
the angle of the blade directly to the face of the figure, and a process called
"triangulation" is used whereby the assassins eyes also look down to
the figure. This creates the shape of a
triangle which circulates the eye.
Look at this painting for a moment and see how your eye is
drawn to the central character. I have
marked down some of the directional lines which lead to the main
character. All these things are used to
lead your eye thus keeping you focused on the artwork.
As you can see the
artist has created a very strong composition to not only draw you to the
central figure, but to also keep your eye within the painting for an extended
period of time. Each time your eye
wanders it is caught and sent back down into the painting. You will also notice that people could apparently shoot lasers from their eyes way back then.
But this is all looking on a 2D surface that is static. You often will stand back in a gallery and
view a painting from six or so feet away.
The artist can control you subtly with these techniques and you can be
immersed to a degree as you imagine what is happening in the scene.
Now suppose in this
gallery a pretty lady or handsome gentleman walks by or your cell phone
rings. The connection between the
painting and yourself is strained or possibly broken. The artist wants to immerse you, but they are
not strong enough to fight against your cell phone or other distractions. So
there is a level of immersion but it is very fragile.
Suppose we now
look at cinema. If you go to a movie you
take a seat, then the lights go dark to reduce any distractions around
you. The movie screen is very large to
block out your peripheral vision. They
want your view to be dominated exclusively by their narrative. They don't want your attention moving past the
border of the screen to be distracted by elements outside of the movie
itself. There is of course the big
glowing red EXIT sign which always reminds you that you are not "in the
movie" but rather "watching a movie".
Things like the
exit sign are little barriers that keep you from being fully immersed. The goal is to eliminate as many barriers as
you can. They then turn the sound up
high so that you are again dominated by your senses. You won't hear others talking so easily, and
are then less likely to be distracted, and thus have the immersion broken. There is narrative and each scene has its
own composition. Big image, overpowering
sound, darkness outside the border and hopefully a narrative able to captivate.
But with cinema you are a passive observer to the
story. You do not interact but remain
separate from the medium. Once the movie
ends you can restart it, but the narrative is fixed as well as the camera
movement. It will never change
regardless how many times you watch it. Creating an immersive environment in a virtual world is an
art form with some unique capabilities as well as interesting challenges.
I see the virtual space as a painting you can enter and
explore.
A creation which can
use tools such as ambient sound, duration, narrative, mystery, interaction,
identity, emotion and so forth the same way an artist studio may contain tools
such as brushes, wood, clay, paint, wire, canvas and wax. The viewer in a virtual environment can be an active
participant who has the ability to choose their direction. They
need not view a static image nor follow a scripted camera. They have a choice to determine their own
experience within the artwork.
But as such how does one capture the viewers attention if
you don't even know from what angle they are viewing your work? A painter knows generally where the viewer
stands in front of their painting so they can plan ahead as we saw with Preti's
painting.
In cinema they also lead you from event to essential
dialogue and so on, often in a recognizable formula. You don't break away from their fixed
camera. You are led by it. You can't stop and look inside a desk drawer
or behind a door.
In a virtual world I
create what I call Immersiva or immersive environments.
I attempt to build
environments which allow the viewer to become engrossed within an experience to
the extent that they forget about everything around them for a time. This medium has the potential to create a
sense of immersion that surpasses the abilities of other more traditional ones
like painting or cinema.
The way I do this is by combining a variety of
elements. I begin by taking an
experience of my own and converting it into a narrative. It might be a hope, dream or regret from my
life but it must be something I am connected to in order for me to properly
understand and convey it. I think
everything you create must have something of yourself in it or it will come out
sterile. You know yourself deeply and if you can translate some of
what you know into an artwork then others will see a truth in it if they possess
a degree of empathy. This is because you
are expressing something you understand.
So for example I
could do a virtual environment based on my feelings of being lost in a winter
storm. I have, in the past, been in knee deep snow
wandering aimlessly only being able to see ten feet in front of me. I know that experience and can portray the
anxiety associated with it. If I was asked to
portray everyday life in Africa I would fail. The work would probably be made
up of stereotypes of things that I have heard about Africa since I have never
actually been there. If my creation was
then shown to someone from Africa they may well laugh and say there are no
similarities at all. A mere caricature.
The real talent in an
artist is to be able to filter something of themselves into an artwork.
Often I will convert my narrative into poetry and hide them
as written notes in a landscape. The
notes help to create a sense of immersion as the viewer is drawn into a story
with mystery being an element used for that purpose. People enter my environment and may or may
not find these notes or other hidden elements, but my focus is also on the joy
of discovery. Knowing you have found
something that others have missed, or being able to show others hidden secrets
or meanings in an artwork are elements which I believe enhance the
experience. The immersion comes with
looking below the surface of a work and into the hidden layers.
When I first began building work in Second Life, I generally
made one off sculptures that would have moving parts, sound, steam, etc. The viewer could come and look at my work
from all different angles, but they didn’t really interact with it. I soon realized that I could create
sculptures that had interactive elements integrated into them, so that a particular
action on the part of the viewer would cause a change in the sculpture. Perhaps the viewer might find a way to
activate a panel that would slide away, and they could see the inner workings,
or a poem would be revealed that would hint at a deeper story. This made possible the ability to engross or
guide my viewers throughout a narrative which was, essentially, a diary of all
my hopes, dreams and sorrows. I kept
these feelings hidden in my first life, but somehow the anonymity of a virtual
identity was an outlet that let me express these emotions.
The viewer can walk around within my constructed
environment, in any direction, experiencing ambient sounds, weather, wind and
music; they can find hidden clues and treasures that will lead them deeper into
the narrative. Sometimes they feel a part of what is happening around them
including joy or anxiety. They can come
back as often as they would like, experiencing the same work in different ways
each time. My visitors are active
participants in my art works, in a way that isn’t possible with my two dimensional
paintings. Within my constructed world
online, people can inhabit the story; they can go beneath the lakes surface,
they can go inside the house in the distance, they can watch the insects leap out
from beneath their feet in the grass and they can inhabit a narrative that they have followed for three or four years, not simply a snapshot in time. They can, essentially, turn to see who Mona is smiling at.
Many tell me that they have had deep emotional reactions to
my work including weeping. I don't
recall anyone ever telling me they wept at seeing one of my paintings, actually I think one of my first year painting professors said that a work I had done made him weep, and I don't think he meant it in a positive way. But what this means to me is that this medium potentially allows the artist to create a deep immersion to an extent beyond that
of others. And this is despite artworks
being shown on a computer screen much smaller than that in a cinema. Our peripheral vision when looking at a
laptop or desktop screen is bombarded with distractions yet virtual worlds
overcome this. Now imagine incorporating
virtual headsets allowing for 360 degree viewing of virtual environments as
well as headphones blocking out unwanted sounds beyond that of the virtual
narrative, and you have a very powerful art form.
This is, to me, what I see as the first layer of the virtual
artform. There is of course many
artforms that can exist, but I am focusing on that of the Immersivist. My next post will talk about the second layer to virtual art which is the avatar and identity.
