Thesis
Screen abstractions : a digital phenomenology of op art aesthetics
Southern Cross University
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Southern Cross University
2022
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25918/thesis.213
Appears in Recent Southern Cross PhD Theses
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Abstract
Through a practice-led inquiry based in painting and installation, this research project examines the perceptual registers at play in digital, screen-based encounters. The abstract distortions and luminous forms generated by digital devices are investigated as qualities that typically go unnoticed when we are absorbed online. Here, the optical experience of ‘digital light’ is considered in physical and material terms, informed by diverse artistic traditions that span modern, postmodern and contemporary art—from Pointillism to Op art and artists such as Gerhard Richter and Tobias Rehberger. Like these exemplars, my practice-led project both absorbs and comments upon the perceptual effects of new-media technologies, extending the legacy of painting as a mode of perceptual inquiry. In particular, the research draws from the history of Op art within the context of phenomenology and contemporary post-Internet practices. Coined in 1964, Op art was a relatively short-lived movement that, although popular with the general public, was condemned by many high-profile critics for its trompe l’oeil qualities, its technological optimism, commercialism and reliance on ‘cheap’ illusion. The works of Op artists, it was assumed, seemed playful but were actually manipulative, not unlike the mass media itself. According to Pamela M. Lee, sixties debates about Op art corresponded with the somatic and consumerist ramifications of television. This research project employs Op art’s abstract significations to examine the perceptual qualities of digital media, thereby contributing to an understanding of the way contemporary art practices respond creatively to the legacy of Sixties opticality/phenomenology debates. The rigorous opticality of Op is presented as a way to consider the regulated, commodified and surveilled space of the World Wide Web, conceiving of digital signifiers less in terms of pixilation or other visual clichés, and more in terms of phenomenological modes of absorption. The spatial, temporal and affective implications of digital culture’s optical demands are approached through the lens of a painting-based practice, proposing that art can illuminate the experience of being immersed in screen-based activities.
Details
- Title
- Screen abstractions : a digital phenomenology of op art aesthetics
- Creators
- Dan McDonnell
- Contributors
- Wes Hill (Supervisor) - Southern Cross UniversityErika Kerruish (Supervisor) - Southern Cross UniversityStephen Garrett (Supervisor) - Southern Cross University
- Awarding Institution
- Southern Cross University; Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Theses
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Southern Cross University
- Publisher
- Southern Cross University
- Number of pages
- 160
- Identifiers
- 991013043213302368
- Copyright
- © D McDonnell 2022
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Business, Law and Arts
- Resource Type
- Thesis