“Trypophobia is a proposed phobia of irregular patterns, clusters of small holes or bumps." (...) The word is from the Greek: trýpa, meaning "hole" and phóbos, meaning "fear." Shapes that elicit a reaction include clustered holes in innocuous contexts such as fruits and bubbles.”Researchers hypothesize that the response is based on a biological revulsion, rather than a learned cultural fear. Upon seeing these shapes, some individuals experience shuddering, skin crawling, panic attacks, sweating, palpitation and nausea or itchiness.”
What trypophobia manifests is that forms and shapes are not a neutral entity, they elicit a constant judgment of reality. We consciously experience just a fraction of what operates beyond the surface. In 1915, D’arcy Thompson published "Growth and Form" illustrating how natural shape and forms can’t be described with the uniqueness of life alone. They are an expression of a corollary of hidden forces at work. The reenactment of these forces together with the material behavioral tendency can create models that mimic the natural processes over time. Under this premises, the line between organic and inorganic material blurs as they are both subjects of structural predictability.
The continuous negotiation between the singularity and the laws governing matter is very interesting to me. The idea that there are forces guiding the appearance of the natural world that run deeper than those governing life is the foundation of mathematical biology and mathematical physic. At the same time, mathematical biology and mathematical physic are at the core of computer simulation. The ability of a machine to compute, predict and manifest natural and complex phenomena.
On the opposite end, in the twentieth century, both the representational or mimetic status of language and the inconsequential of the observational process have been called into question. More recently, feminist analyses of scientific and technological developments have argued that there are material as well as discursive elements that are significant to the process of materialization. Epigenetic and neuroplasticicty, for example, are affected by the environment as well as the subjective experiences and different states of consciousness. How does one reconcile with the cascading material-making effects of mental activities and what should we do with this newly acquired information?
My current practice is situated in this paradoxical space. The hidden dimensions of the body that are carving the paths in which our imagination come to imagine. In our inescapable material condition subject to the laws of nature, all the forces and constraints that forge our consciousness, and in the wonder of the sameness that punctuates the natural and synthetic realms.
In the exhibition, a series of prints play with parameters of scale, pattern, and visualization iconography to honors the tradition of drawing as a tool of both scientific and representation and materialization of the imagination. The installation is themed around a selection of tissues of the body, such as osseous, vascular and epidermal, and blends traditional and digital techniques embracing the ambiguity of naturalness and artificiality. It is fundamentally a ludic meddling into microscopic imaging, mathematical biology, in-silica simulations in a practice that uses technological feedback and loops to morph a layered process of figuration.
Silvia Rigon
Los Angles, May 2018