This blog is to keep record of my research and work in the areas of Digital Media. I shall begin with the artist who has influenced and inspired me the most, a great artist, who passed away on the 9th of Janurary 2011, James L. Acord.
James L. Acord was a nuclear artist, the only civilian to ever hold a nuclear licence. Acords work looked at alchemy in the nuclear age, as he said, we’ve had the bronze age, the stone age etc., now is surely the nuclear age.
Acords work covered issues that effect all living beings, he worked endlessly and against a great wall with both pro nuclear and anti nuclear directed opinions being opposed to him. Clearly neither groups understood his work, yet he kept going for many years against numerous odds. Acord was a sculpter, but through his work opened a rift between science and art, or perhaps tryed to re-open, as he says; “Currently art and science are largely divorced from each other. We live in such a complex and specialized time that that a Leonardo da Vinci, simultaneously on the leading edge of both art and science, is imposable.”
Acord has been the route of my inspiration for over 2 years now, and I will never forget how he has helped me and I will continue to work with the passion he inspired in me.
In an email I asked him why he thought art and science was important, he replyed
“Art and science are the two primary paths to the understanding of what it is to be a human; in the life and universe that we inhabit. A familiarity with both contributes to being a whole, conscious person. Art and science both complement and define each other. My understanding and practice of sculpture is greatly expanded by my studies of Material Sciences like metallurgy and nuclear physics and my imagination is stretched by my readings in cosmology, for instance. Many prominent scientists write of their love of art, often music. The cross-fertilization between these two approaches to understanding life enriches both disciplines as well as civilization as a whole. “
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/backissues/2011/01/postscript-james-acord.html
I shall undoubtly continue to research art science hybrids and work with radiation and materials such as U.