landscape

natures inevitable redemption

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Natures Inevitable Redemption (Eternal Vision - Drone 1001)

Mixed media with 3d printing, 11in x 11in x 8in, 2024 (detail view)

I’ve never worked on a single piece for as long as I did on this one. When I started it in 2022 I had a crystal clear vision in my mind as to what I was making and how the final piece would look. Much to my surprise the more I worked, the more specific and articulate I got with materials the further I got from seeing the final piece come together. Each new detail set higher expectations for the next. The piece was certainly growing and evolving based on what it needed to become through my intuitions. However, once I started on the foliage, it was immediately evident to me that the end was near. My vision of a landscape that was truly overgrown and reclaimed by nature was finally coming together.

This piece depicts a moment in the Eternal Vision story in the far future. It speaks to the idea that all technology eventually becomes obsolete. The notion that nature will eventually prevail and reclaim all it once had. That decay and decomposition will always be beautiful. Nothing is free from the feedback loop of destruction and regrowth, not even technology.

Check back soon for a full gallery of images of the piece and a more elaborate explanation.

The Last Operator

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The landscape is a natural barren wasteland. A near monochromatic world where everything is covered with a fine red dust. Not very different from the countless depictions of the planet Mars in science fiction stories. But this is not the red planet, this is Earth, in a not so distant future. Anything green in this place has long since dried out to dust and blown away. Here we find the last of the human advisors to the eternal vision drones, looking out over an all too familiar landscape. Just ahead is an old communications relay post. The operator sends the drone out ahead to get an advanced look at the area. Machine Vision reveals all, transmitted directly to the operator's AR (augmented reality) goggles from an encrypted link to the drone. Human vision, augmented by the electro-optical sensors of the drone in real time. Day or night, the night vision and thermal imaging of this system are extremely accurate.

These posts were once a symbol of the total surveillance state that prevailed during the end times. As part of a global deterrence system, these stations monitored all of the communications in the surrounding area. Now they are simple time capsules, waiting to be found. Most of the time they have been completely picked over by scavengers long ago. But this post somehow looks untouched. Is it possible that any of these systems still work? What will be gleaned from the remnants of civilization lost?

The Last Operator, mixed media with 3D printing, 9 x 6 x 7 inches 1:150 scale, 2024

aquatic observation

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I’ve imagined the drone 1001a as the aquatic version of the original all seeing model 1001. This drone hovers quietly over the ocean or just on the very edge of the shore. It exists in the time of the endless ocean. Long after our technological demise, the inevitable consequences of climate changes come to light. There is nothing. A hopeless horizon extends in every direction. What fragments of land remain are scattered far apart with only empty waters between them. The detritus we leave behind will always remain. Now it is mostly seen as sun bleached plastics that float on the surface or wash up like an artificial red tide. This drone constantly patrols the water, searching for anything that breaks the pattern of emptiness. How far does the ocean reach? Is there anything at all beyond the horizon?

Drone 1001a Augmented Reality test. Click to play the video with sound.

Right now this specific work is moving in two distinctly different directions. The physical 3D printed versions of the drone are being used to tell this part of the story through hyperreal miniature landscape dioramas/scenes. The 3D model has been painted, textured and animated, so it can appear digitally in augmented reality. Each direction has its own unique set of concerns and potentials. Together they will help tell a more articulate story that has the potential to spill out into the world around us.

progress in the studio

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Self-directed research and learning is not always as fruitful as I anticipate. So far with this project things are far exceeding my expectations. With the amount of information, examples and tutorials online, I am happily finding the answers I need to feel like I can experiment freely. I still do not know exactly where this work will lead, but the possibilities become more clear each day. I hope to include sound and movement in this work as well. I believe that will allow me to create the kind of immersive experiences I am hoping to create. As this work in the studio progresses, the stories from these places also become more clear to me. I am looking forward to using these tools to share some of the moments I’ve imagined and to answer some basic questions. What has happened in these places since our time? How could surveillance, ai and autonomous drones reshape the landscapes of the future? What can be learned from the romanticisation of these ideas?

drone 1001a 3d rendering 2023

some ideas are destined for the future

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In the studio I work on many things, often moving in many directions simultaneously. As I do this, I’m always focusing on the idea first and then what materials or medium to use to best articulate that idea. Because of this, some ideas get set aside for a future version or iteration. Usually those ideas resurface when I see a potential in a new material or most often a new piece of technology. It has been about 15 years since I first took a took a class to explore the medium of 3D modeling. At that time my ideas and the technology didn’t align for some reason, time was shorter back then. Since that time I have used traditional sculpture and photography to articulate many of my ideas. Using analog techniques to create hyperreal views of what could be simply described as miniature movie sets. But now I find myself in that familiar moment again, when an idea resurfaces through exciting exploration in the studio. My recent research into 3d modeling, painting and texturing those models, 3d animation and augmented reality has really got me thinking. I can start to see some complex ideas coming together within this space. I also believe that asking questions of this digital work and how I can employ it will only make my analog work more dynamic and articulate as well. Check back to see what emerges from the past.

drone 1001a 3d landscape sketch

The Future Is The Past

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I have for a long time considered autonomous drones to be the future of surveillance and warfare. I wrote about this initially in 2006 in my graduate school thesis. I then only knew a fraction of what I know now to be true about the premonitions I had. As the war in Ukraine rages on for a second year, my ideas continue to be reaffirmed. Russia and Ukraine are caught in the feedback loop of a weapons race. The deployment and development of drones on the battlefield has now clearly fundamentally changed the entire battlefield. FPV drones that cost a fraction of the equipment they are used to destroy are a great example of this. Both sides are using these drones simultaneously for offensive and defensive applications. The operators of these drones are human, however the ambition to have swarms of autonomous drones on the battlefield before 2025 is real. UPDATE: The day after this post the Pentagon announced it’s “replicator program”… The goal is to produce thousands of inexpensive autonomous drones and have them in use within two years. Here is a link to a POLITICO article with more info. I’m sure more will come of this in the media.

the clues are all around us

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Cellular communication towers, patriot missile batteries, primitive spears and lances, radar dishes, the ostankino tower and nike missiles, antenna of all types. These are a few of the of the very specific things you will see in my landscapes. Everything I include has a purpose and everything relates to the content or the ideas that I hope these places inspire in the viewer. I have been told at times that these ideas are prescient, but how I see it, this is how it has always been and will always be. The feedback loop is the same, the technology is what advances. Is this not what we always desire?

mini card detail