Sirhair

Grad app essay

2010-01-15T11:41:00.001-08:00

I’ve sat with men and women on the dark precipice of death, and seen joy beyond my wildest imagination. Smiles that haunt my saddest memories and that remind me that there is something more to humanity. Something transcendent about our very nature that calls out, indeed begs for understanding. I believe it is only art that can begin this understanding. And that is why I am an artist.

My introduction to art was as a child living in Athens, surrounded by the foundations of our culture. Yet, the idea of art as a career came through my studies in architecture. So perhaps it’s no surprise that some of my influences spawn from formalist, modernist and minimalist backgrounds. I consider amongst my predecessors the architects: Le Corbusier, Tadao Ando, and Steven Hull, as well as the artists: Anish Kapoor, Ann Hamilton, and Richard Serra.

Aside from my upcoming degree in Art, I have received a Liberal Studies degree with a minor in Philosophy. This summer I plan to finish my Associates in Architecture. In addition, I have strong background in physics, math and astronomy. From this rigorous scientific background I have come to believe that art is as valid an area of research as any science. And it is only art that can dynamically and creatively get at the core of who we are as individuals. Art, for me, is an intuitive phenomenological research field. To this end, “Love and Responsibility”, a phenomenologic philosophical work, by Karol Wojtyla has been instrumental in my practice and understanding of art.

My art is also informed by my Catholic faith. My faith has driven me to work with the poor and dying across the world, from New York to Calcutta. In India, I saw people who were covered in years of dirt, puss and decay, overflow with joy when someone offered them a bed, a bath and food. When for the first time someone else understood the basis of their dignity, that they too were human. They craved this understanding, yet their transcendent nature was hidden in a beautiful physicality that blinded.

It is this need for understanding that has led me to my current work. Steganography is the artistic application of code making; the hiding of codes in something beautiful. For me codes parallel personality, in that the essential purpose of codes is to be understood, yet they are hidden until someone invests time and love.

When I work, I let an idea lead me through the mediums it wants to be realized in. Each medium imposes a new essence to my work that challenges me to understand and re-understand my art. This in turn, evolves my interests and affects the path of my work.

An example of this evolution is the color code and color field series evidenced in my slides. They initially began as a series of paintings a la Hans Hofmann. Their rectilinear subjects suggested a three dimensional cube, so I painted six color field paintings on a cube with interchangeable sides. From that I decided to explode the cube and include personality. I then created the installation: “Michelle” which is a phenomenologic portrait of my wife comprised of thirty six boxes of color. While reflecting upon that installation, I realized that I was installing sensory information, which varied by viewer, yet still conveyed an unchanging personality. To push and strengthen the personality, I wanted to include a hidden yet essential aspect. With that spark, I decided to return to my earlier scientific, philosophic and mathematic training and use steganography to hide the building blocks of unique personalities in color.

After research and discussions with a Cryptographer and a Computer Scientist, I figured out a dynamic way to encode any given text into color. I created two initial paintings, including “Rosetta”, which evolved into the Babel installations. Babel is comprised of stacked colored boxes, with the orientation and presence varying by site but the same underlying text: “Did you understand?” From this, I wanted to create a piece that was dynamic and birthed by viewers. For the Secrets series I wrote a computer program, which permits viewers to enter text which is encoded into color and displayed on multiple monitors and projectors. Each step builds off the last and permits a deeper investigation and evolution.

I believe Hunter would greatly assist my development and permit me to continue this process of exploration. Hunter offers unparalleled artistic colleagues, rigorous artistic expectations, and access to a primary center of the art world.

Grad app essay

2010-01-15T11:41:00.000-08:00

Grad apps done

2010-01-15T11:40:00.001-08:00

Grad apps done... time to get back to real life.

Davis Center update.

2009-12-03T17:28:00.001-08:00

Unfortunately, the Davis Center has delayed the photographic installation, again. So though it was supposed to be up for December's First Friday Art walk, it won't be up in time. Hopefully at some point during December it will be installed.

I got in a show!

2009-11-15T22:13:00.000-08:00

I just got word earlier tonight that I was accepted for a juried show!

Exhibition of Mathematical Art
Joint Mathematics Meetings
January 13-16, 2010 - San Francisco, California.
http://www.anneburns.net/jmm10/
http://www.anneburns.net/jmm10/alonzo.html (link may change soon, it's a temporary site).

New face/new stuff

2009-11-15T22:01:00.000-08:00

I'm working on changes to the website to make it more functional, professional, comprehensive and up-to-date. The site will be changing periodically.

More changes

2008-06-26T00:13:00.000-07:00

Faith or bust calendar fixed so it's now viewable by the world
prices updated
prayers updated
php updated
weather chart changed slightly for readability
other minor changes

Moved over

2008-06-19T13:27:00.001-07:00

move to lite php complete... oh it's so much easier to update things now!
faith/ is working now
backend is cleaned up... yay less excess!

moving to PHP

2008-06-19T11:35:00.000-07:00

I'm moving my files to a minor PHP coding to ensure consistency with menus.
I'm also testing image posting so I can figure out how to blog post easier... This one's from Brooksie baby.

Donations

2008-06-19T10:48:00.000-07:00

I've been working on the store (store.sirhair.com) and it looks like the initial maintenance is over. YAY!
I'm about to work on the "faith/" section of sirhair.com
I've been clearing up the website stuff... so it's about to look a little different.
Donations are going well, so far the biggest donor is my little sister! Who's donated a month!

Hmm

2008-06-05T20:27:00.001-07:00

just discovered that amongst the deluge of assistance the Richard gave the other night, was a program that I misidentified as useless, but may in fact do exactly what I am doing manually, automatically, and then some. Gah... time to investigate.

galleries

2008-06-04T21:42:00.000-07:00

I've been working on the galleries to get them up... the starting ones are almost ready... and they'll integrate better with the site and with the shop.sirhair.com (coming).
also been reorganizing files for easier use in the future.

photo update

2008-06-01T23:40:00.000-07:00

switched servers from googlepages
edited pages for new server compatibility
uploaded two flash photo shows of my work from the gallery show.