Pareidolia

“Pareidolia” is the psychological phenomenon whereby a vague or random stimulus (often an image or sound) is perceived as significant or having recognizable form - classical examples being seeing the “man” in the moon (or the “rabbit pounding rice” if you are Japanese), the Shroud of Turin, and the “face” in the Cydonia region of Mars.

Much of my recent work explores this phenomenon. I’m interested in how information or meaning is read in patterns formed in nature and by human culture and technology? Detailed close-up images dissolve on close inspection revealing their fractal qualities (self similarity at varying scales) and leaving space for our imagination. Similar fractal qualities are also revealed in the digital and physical processes used in creating the work. Is there a correspondence between processes in nature and human technical processes and systems of thought?

Is the ‘signal’ distinguishable from the ‘noise’? Or is it just our imagination?

Each series of prints was created from images collected during field trips in Australia, Antarctica, the northern coast of California, the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, Iceland, and the American Rockies.

Sheet

2017. Digital pigment print on paper. 52” x 52”. McMurdo Ice Sheet, Antarctica.

Littoral

2013. Digital pigment print on paper. 44” x 44”. Bolinas, California, USA.

Maculata series

2013. Digital pigment print on paper. Each print 40” x 26”. Kioloa, Australia.

Maculata #1

Maculata #2

Maculata #3

Maculata #4

Maculata #5

Maculata #6

Maculata #6. Detail.

Maculata (Old Blotchy) series

2013. Digital pigment print on paper. Each print 60” x 40”. Kioloa, Australia.

Each of these prints was developed from imagery taken of the bark of an ancient Eucalyptus maculata tree at Kioloa which has survived fire, logging and predation since before the white colonization of Australia.