Information Sheet

Reflective Hologram

Reflective hologram is a material which was developed for the commercial printing field with the limitations of a commercial printing press.  From 1994 to 1998 I developed methods, mediums and techniques for working with this material to make it flexible. This allowed me to create multiple images on the one plane which morphs from one image to another as the viewer moves around the art work. This development led to the granting of a patent in 1998 in the use of hologram. 

This new system of techniques and materials to work with reflective hologram creates a new vocabulary to painting to accomplish art works in a way which was not possible in the past.  It offered me a fresh vocabulary to make statements which are dynamic in concept create a multiplicity in the physical work.  Added to this, further developments in sculpture and printmaking have tremendous potential.

This technique is constructed on a 2 dimensional plane as opposed to holography which is a projected in 3 dimensions

My work over the past 13-14 years has involved releasing the potential of reflective hologram by manipulating and drawing with it, enhancing its ability to change colour, and form, to create a ‘flicker/flash’ effect similar to animation.

Each work has many dynamic images which cross and lock over one another covering the drawing from before, producing a matrix of composition, colour, line, concept and emotional feel, similar to film - the difference being that instead of a strip of film or video, all the images are constructed (drawn) on the one 2D plane.  Although film is projected, reflective hologram is activated by any light source.  

Movement of a frame of film produces motion, color and composition providing the image has, or is altered, although each frame is static. With my work and my control of the reflective hologram the images remain still and it is the movement of the viewer that creates animation of line, form and composition as well as considerable colour change of the imagery on the canvas.

These works range in size from small (500mm x 500mm) to large (4800mm x 2400mm).

Documentation
To take one frame from a film leaves an image that loses artist intention and concept and the homogenization effect of an overall art work. Therefore the works in this presentation are stills of my work; samples of many images on a 2D plane and like film or video if one viewed as a frame, the storyline is lost.  Although the stilled image may have merit, a few frames or images emanating from my work have been chosen to show effect and not the total aesthetic effect or concept which should be viewed as a whole to understand its dynamic. 

Some of my works contain thousands of changes and combinations of imagery and colour - far too many to document by still shots, nor is it desirable as the work is no longer an entity to itself as it was created.  Photography gives a rough approximation as light has purity of colour.

Artist Statement
This technique has given me a vocabulary to develop a language to create concepts which are not static.  It is my belief that all things; concepts, human behaviour and light are infinitely divided infinite fractions of change.  This is the closest medium I can find that allows me to explore that change.
It is now over 14 years that I have worked with Hologram and metal leaf. There are many reasons why this material has captivated me. Its ability to change and shift and its colour dimension have afforded me to exploit its potential because it corresponds to the things that interest me in life. What I mean by that I see everything is in constant movement. No imagery is still. It seems to me that static images are only a fraction of the story we are looking at when we see things. To me everything in life is in a state of shift, flux and movement. Consistently being challenged, right or truth are only relevant to time, place and interpretation.
This has given me the opportunity to produce works that have pure colour (hologram exhibits spectral range i.e rainbows). I managed to isolate pure primary colours to maneuver composition across the canvas so that it becomes dynamic in relation to where the viewer chooses to stand or walk by.
The series I am currently working on 'Storm Birds', '20 Knot winds' and 'Springing Spring' are pushing the boundaries of the hologram obtaining fresh insights and provoking me to further questioning and experimentation with the development of new works.
In the work 'Still Water, Still Wind' the hologram has been stilled to produce colour alone in the forms where as in 'Wind Against Tide ' the complete canvas is dynamically alive, no matter where one stands a new image is created very similar to the 'reality' of wind and tide. Blossom has a field of graphite which is neutral in tone line and form change radically as can be seen by the alternating images. Many more complex forms are in the real work. The works referred to may be viewed on my website (as at October 2009)
The work that I produce has been developed not only for the fact that you can have multiple works in the one canvas, but also the fact that, with this medium, the art statement does not need to be static, as we have know it in the past.