An Ongoing series

 My goal is to create non-functional, wall and floor mounted sculptures with the same materiality as computers and digital peripherals. My aim is to have the form allude to a function, despite omitting a utilitarian purpose. I feel a deep need produce sculptures which reflect both my digital experience and my physical experiences, capturing the essence of our two contrasting worlds. These physical art objects will incorporate design language from personal computers and digital peripherals, acting as a system in which I can represent an abstraction. Utilizing coded systems embedded in color, layout, and interactions between the sculptures, I aim to transcribe the emotional content, the visual likeness, and the spiritual essence of my subject. The subject undergoes a series of abstractions, ultimately reduced to a single sentence. This string of characters serves as the syntax for the origin form of each work. The origin form is the true composition of the work, the way it was initially conceived. Once a work is produced, the origin form is rarely seen in a gallery setting; origin forms exist primarily in isolation. I seek to bring physical emotions into a digital world through design and prototyping, then translate them back into the physical world using a computerized design strategy, which incorporates both digital elements and computer manufacturing processes and materials. My intense infatuation with computers, peripherals, connectors, and cables, has led me to a unique way to express my personal experience of the world, an experience which I believe is not being accurately represented and embedded into the global art world. These sculptural works mirror the human condition; they can exist in isolation or in interaction with other works, using the inherent modular nature of wires to construct dynamic arrangements which alters the works context within a space. This allows the work to continuously change and evolve, much a digital artifact in a digital environment. These works act as a testament of a technical feat that pushes my limits in small-run production and sculpture manufacturing processes. My intention is to make these works feel machine-like and as removed from humanity as possible, challenging the traditional concept of the artist's unique expression. In art history, artworks have typically been seen as unique expressions of a single person; objects which could not be reproduced. I aim to challenge this notion by making work that embeds myself into objects that could be produced and reproduced in a factory. My current series, 'Physical Digitalism,' builds upon my previous work 'Digital Realism,' where I explored situations, feelings, and objects that can only exist in harmony within both the digital and the physical world. The primary material used in the 'Physical Digitalism' series is RJ-45 Cat5 and Cat6 ethernet data cables. These cables serve as pathways to the internet and its digital realms, enabling a person to have digital experiences. These cables hold heavy connotations for me, and through my intimate work with them during this series, have become an extension of both my physical body and my digital mind.  

   

Billy Jackson

//Hail Bows