Digital-based Sculptures | Matthew Jarvis Wall

These digital based sculptures by Matthew Jarvis Wall are works of art in their ability to achieve a level of timeliness, coupled with timelessness. They are of our era, yet they evoke feelings and thoughts which span millennia of human reaction to the arts. A quote by the artist put forth at The Varsity, projects the issue and ideas behind the artist’s creation of these pieces into clearer focus.

Computers and information networks are becoming increasingly prevalent in our everyday lives, making us rethink the way we participate in the production of art and design. The cornerstones of classical aesthetics in art — autonomy of form, singularity of vision, and totality of message — become less relevant as artists and designers turn towards the “systemic” as their aesthetic. Generative design refers to any art practice where the artist uses a system, such as a set of natural language rules, a computer program, a machine, or other procedural invention, which is set into motion with some degree of autonomy contributing to or resulting in a completed work of art. Generative art is, in this sense, self-automating by nature. Self-automation is a seemingly contradictory notion, an intrinsically mechanical process that also speaks to the complex forms and behaviours observed in nature.