Reassortments

The work of this portfolio is conceptual in nature. This images are constructed using rules-based processing of an image. I became intrigued by the idea that a digital photograph is a simple, though large, data set. How can that data be made "visible" in a photo? Data is processed, for all sorts of uses, according to an assigned set of rules. I thought about Sol LeWitt's drawings, executed according to a list of instructions, where the instructions are the actual art. I created a rule methodology for making the images. This work is also influenced by Ray Metzger's composites; in his case, loose grids of images that become an abstracted whole.

After dividing the image into a grid of 24 squares, the histogram data of each square is analyzed. The histogram data is analyzed with a Visual Basic program that extracts the data into a spreadsheet. Three data points are calculated for each channel (a, b, luminosity, R, G, and B) of each square; the sort is based on one of these. Using one data element, such as the standard deviation of the luminosity channel, the squares are rearranged in order.

The result is that each square is in itself a picture, if the viewer takes the time to look. Some details of the original image become more interesting or important as a result of being in a smaller image area. The process challenges the viewer to consider the characteristics of a photograph, and the picture plane as an explicit component of the presentation.

Key to formulas:

Channels red (R), green (G), blue (B), LAB luminosity (L), LAB a (a), LAB b (b). Data: mean (M), median (MD), standard deviation (SD). Sorts: large to small (L-S), small to large (S-L).