Adrian Clark Hatfield
Artist Statement
00000The role of science in contemporary culture mirrors the role held by nineteenth-century Romantic landscape painters in unexpected ways. Scientists and the Romantic painters have both chosen to explore amazingly vast subject matter, whether attempting to map the human genome or to depict Yosemite on a canvas. Both also take Sublime subjects and reduce them to a more manageable scale. Although the stated intent of artists and scientists may be to understand or represent their subjects thoroughly, the limits of language and human cognition make such a task impossible. Further, although humans are fascinated by the vast and mysterious, we also are terrified by it. Creating an illusion of control and understanding of overwhelming subjects provides comfort. This is the case in science, religion and art.
00000My work examines the visual language science uses to make huge amounts of information digestible. In addition, I am exploring how the reductive nature of this visual language creates the illusion of a more complete understanding of the subjects. I have chosen to focus my examination primarily on the visual language of paleontology-the study of prehistoric life, and astronomy-the study of outer space, not only because the information and understanding of them is so limited, but because the public's imaginings of them are so clear. To these ends I have been studying the evolution of explanatory images in both fields, as well as pop-culture sources, such as cinema and news media, which contribute to the common understanding of the subject matter.
00000Because science is based on observable information, progress in areas where data is limited can be slow and understanding far from comprehensive. When an illustrator sets out to depict a prehistoric scene, he or she works from incomplete information. The gaps in information are filled by creative whims and aesthetic sensibilities. Consequently, any image created depicting a prehistoric animal or scene is a fiction expressing a possibility. We are inundated with these science fiction images, commonly accepting them as fact. When I paint a prehistoric scene, I want it to be as fantastic as possible without becoming obvious fiction. The piece should operate not only as an alluring image, but also as a metaphor exposing our most trusted systems as simulacra.
00000The infinite universe stands second perhaps only to our own consciousness as the greatest mystery of our empirical experience. Unlike God, the vastness of space is an undeniable, observable reality. Amplifying our senses through the use of tools such as the Hubble telescope, we are able to detect astonishing and little understood phenomena. Much like a child looking over the side of a boat into the vastness of the deep ocean, we may make a discovery or two, but the greatest realization is how little we can perceive, and how small we are in relation to what we are observing. The Hubble images are constructed from information gained through electronic instruments recording huge amounts of data, only a small fraction of which is visible light. The information is used to create grayscale images, which are then colorized so the viewer can differentiate between various phenomena. By seeming to be photographs, Hubble images have inherited some of film-based image's persistent baggage: they are seen as "reality". One can imagine (and the makers of countless science fiction films have depicted) looking out a spacecraft window to see multi-colored nebulas and spinning galaxies just as the Hubble depicts them. I contend that another consideration goes into the construction of these space pictures: human aesthetics. These stunning images are beautiful because we make them beautiful. My intent is for the artwork to embrace the ingenuity, strength and inherent beauty of science's visual language, while simultaneously exposing their limitations.