Vanishing Points, 2010 - Current
The pixel grid is a fundamental element in digital imaging, serving as a blank canvas for visual representation in software such as Adobe Photoshop. It's especially crucial for depicting transparency, where the familiar white and gray square pattern becomes a visual metaphor for the absence of color or content. Often a silent witness in the backdrop of digital creation, the pixel grid becomes the central narrative in Endless Nameless, which invites viewers into an ever expanding and contracting checkerboard.
With the use of p5.js, the animation orchestrates a generative illusion of zooming into and out of the grid, while each square’s dimensions remain constant. The work dynamically adapts to browser size, allowing for countless arrangements. Each rendering is subtly unique, influenced by variables such as viewing software, screen resolutions, and computer processing power. Within these parameters, the artwork finds its pulse, presenting a captivating display that questions notions of proximity and perspective.
Part of a larger series titled Vanishing Points, these works originally began as screen recordings from 2010 of routine or mundane actions involving the checkerboard pattern. Here, the pixel grid advances as the protagonist, inviting viewers to reconsider its role not just as a tool, but as a space with conceptual depth. The phrase Endless Nameless is suggestive of a realm without borders, a place where end points are merely new beginnings. It also points to the enigmatic hidden track of the same name on Nirvana’s album Nevermind from 1991. The series of random screams and erratic noise effects was originally recorded out of frustration and played only after a long period of silence following the final listed song.
The animated work Endless Nameless reflects a quiet fascination, much like the tranquil presence of screensavers from the 1990s that often go unnoticed yet provide a seamless transition between engagement and rest. In the subdued hum of their operation, the automated graphics from Vanishing Points draw us into a momentary introspection, inviting us to reconsider our relationship with the screens that are an integral part of our physical and digital lives.