Tuesday, March 29, 2011

particle accelerators and whatnot




So i began doing these paintings of particle accelerators with the idea of technology and paradox in mind.  As some of you may know, i embarked on a series of telephone poles last semester and i find many of the recurring themes from that body creeping back into my thoughts (there was also the animal/machine hybrids too haha) The idea of technology as a problem and solution is the major theme i see emerging from these works that i'm posting now.
Some of you may be familiar with the large particle accelerator built in switzerland is a circular track over 17 miles long. It uses electro-magnetic fields to accelerate particles at close to the speed of light and smash them together in a controlled environment, to essentially create a mini version of the big-bang.   Its end result is said to produce a multitude of things, but in particular either a small, controlled universe, or an earth-gobbling black hole which would suck our entire planet into it in a matter of seconds...  sweet.

I've collected photos, cropped, and adjusted colors, saturation, and exposure to create colorful but almost daunting abstracts of these incredibly elaborate machines to use as visual sources for these paintings.  I wanted the color choices to be very synthetic as opposed to earthy tones, implying the potential hazards of these items, almost as if they were toxic to our existence.