Tony Bounsall

Artist’s Statement
Tony Bounsall


“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has courage to loose sight of the
Shore.” - Andre Gide

These two pieces are part of an ongoing body of work called "Between Two
Worlds". My starting point is always a digital photograph. I create
multi-layered files to manipulate and explore figure ground relationships,
colour interactions, synthesized forms, and textural elements. Procedurally,
no two are ever the same. I currently employ the use of more painterly
aspects created with digital "brushes". I enjoy the clean, crisp, graphic
quality the digital environment offers me, as well as my ability to explore
and manipulate images.

Current forms of digital imaging (such as thermography, topography, medical,
industrial, and satellite imagery) permeate our culture. Consequently, these pieces
were made while keeping such technologies in mind. A few of
my other sources of inspiration include the work of Francis Bacon, Graham
Coughtry, Claude Breeze, Wassily Kandinsky, Joan Miro and Paul Klee.

Since we (the "collective we") have been interfacing with digital technologies and imagery on an increasing basis, I have often been reminded of Marshall McLuhan. He said, "The artist picks up the message of cultural and technological challenge decades before its transforming impact occurs...then builds a model...for facing the challenge that is at hand". By pushing the boundaries of photographic imagery I am exploring the integration of the human element with this new visual culture.