Thomas de Groot wrote:


> "A type of typewriter" by Shay
> I very much wonder what the meaning is of this wonderful and intriguing
> image? I imagine that the before is the typewriter itself as a metaphore for
> the pre-digital creative process, and sublimated into the after as the
> creative process itself. Very clever! I cannot entirely see how the image
> was obtained and I am curious to hear more about it. Artistically, I would
> say that this image could proudly be exposed in any modern art museum.
> 

Nicely put.  For me this image is nothing short of a brain punch. I feel 
like you've at least offered me a stool to sit on after I pick myself up 
off the mat and try and think about it some more.

In an earlier thread, Shay threw down a challenge to himself:
to produce...
"an image that is on topic yet still relevant
outside of the competition."
and...
one that 'will make people think, "You know, it's not just the
kiddie pool over there, those POV-Ray guys have something interesting or
high quality to offer."'

He has done that.  Another idea he advanced was his refocused desire to 
understand when comes the point of diminishing returns in his 
entry-creating process, and act apon it.  He has answered that desire 
also.

This work challenges us conceptually, as Shay's works always do, but 
this time he has left the door open and allows us to make some easier 
connections between the image and the underlying idea.  That was not 
always so in the past.  But there are still loose ends,... still bits of 
this to ponder. This appears like a photo of a typewriter keyboard, yet 
I cannot think of a typewriter that actually looks like this.

The work also challenges us stylistically.  I had always viewed ascii 
art as a stylization based in reduction of means.  I had missed its 
inherent potential to reveal process.  But as you have pointed out, this 
is exactly what Shay has used it to do.  The result is stylistically 
sophisticated and visually delightful.  And I agree, the interplay 
between stylistic improvisation and conceptual morphing is as tightly 
drawn as in many a high-brow, museum work of art.  I love how as the 
keys file off in linear perspective, they blur into textual "noise." 
Just wonderful.

All the usual tricks are there.  The "self-reference" of a keyboard 
depicted with keystrokes, strokes of "literal" typeface, but rasterized 
into a 3d photo illusion, (the traditional objective of raytracing.) The 
illusion is obtained primarily through color, not tone, (try throwing 
this picture into an image editor and desaturating it.)  The color is 
the result of a mix. Each letter is a "primary" from the rgb palette, 
"literal" in a sense. These primaries are then mixed through overtyping 
via the raytracer. The derived color leads to a photo-like illusion, yet 
the usual way that a raytracer modulates color to produce a 3d illusion 
is bypassed and ignored.

Before and after?  Lots of possibilities here.

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