Florence, 2018
Fictions #2
Eduardo Secci Contemporary, January 19 - March 10
FICTIONS emphasise what happens to a traditional form of image-making when it enters a digital framework, with a strong focus in the mediation that an artwork undergoes when it is consciously documented, collated and distributed using digital technology. Michael Staniak investigates the question of the digital identity, the obfuscation of truth and the revelation of a new aesthetic code, which is still in the process of being defined.
The HDF title of this series of paintings are an acronym for “Hierarchical Data Format”: a digital file extension used mostly in satellite data and imagery gathering in order to extract multiple points of information from a single digital image. This is reflective of the way we view most of our world via the mediated digital lens, where oftentimes more truths about an image can be revealed using new technologies. At the same time, the screen can hinder our understanding of physical reality; we question the truth value of edited images that can often have a flattening effect on the physical subject. Staniak’s paintings are demonstrative of both these phenomena - his gestures are heightened in saturated color or contrasted in a facsimile-like monochrome; yet the gestures themselves are hidden and revealed only between painterly layers of visual data flattened by a process that renders the works to appear more digital.
The gestures in the works themselves are created by hand, with swift improvised movements of the artist’s finger acting as the marking making device. In this way, Staniak’s actions mimic the way we use our fingers to navigate our touch-screens devices. The haptic sensation of creating with the finger, especially with digital devices, not only reinforces our creative urges from our formative years as toddlers but also bonds us with a strong physical connection to the screen, which aids us in relating to our media on a more personal level. Like the palette Staniak has utilized over the years, his finger expressions are like a unique signature that the he has employed to emphasize our need for this personalized connection in this screen-based age. Most of our interaction with information and each other are formed through a glass barrier. Staniak’s handmade, painted gestures remind us of how deeply embedded is our need for the physical experience, even as our digital technology evolves.
