BUSY explores the overwhelming interplay of systems in our world. We may be pulled in a million directions, always somewhere to be, something to see, a notification that needs attention. At a distance, this would appear as noise to an observer. Upon closer look, every little detail of our lives is a world upon itself of infinite detail.
This body of work contains digital assets, physical drawings, and live installations.
At the core of the project lives a generative algorithm that creates both a digital rendition of the artwork and instructions for drawing machines. Utilizing JavaScript and taking a year to develop, this algorithm uses both generative, procedural, and hand-drawn elements to create artworks autonomously.
In my everyday life, I’m surrounded by the natural world. I walk amongst the trees in my backyard, listening to the various calls of native birds. On the border of that is rural Vermont life, which includes the smell of pine, bumpy gravel roads, enormous fields of corn, and, yes, lots of maple syrup. My life wasn’t always this way, though. I grew up in a major city (Baltimore). A part of me misses parts of that life: the ambient noise of traffic, late-night warehouse parties, rooftops, and music. Approximately 500,000 people live in Baltimore City, in contrast to the 3,000 in my little Vermont town. BUSY explores the overwhelming sensory torrent I feel when I go to a city these days.
Artist Statement, James Merrill
In the work, I explore what causes this excitement and anxiety, and the conclusion that I land on is:
Cities are comprised of many-layered intricate systems. As observers, living with these systems becomes familiar, and we begin to find them normal. What if we took a step back and saw them in totality?
What are these systems? Examples include the transit system, the 9-to-5, the inflow of goods from ports, food delivery apps, scooter rentals, construction sites, and law enforcement. As you walk down a city street, these systems may very well be nearby. As humans, we tend to tune out the sensory information related to these systems because they’re “noise”. We prioritize the aberrations which our brains identify as threats or opportunities.
BUSY seeks to give the viewer a “god’s eye” view of intricate systems woven together. It’s not purely an exploration of city life but more of a study of the underlying coexisting elements found in urban environments. I play with the idea of “taking the blinders off.” I imagine being teleported into the heart of a metropolis and sensing all of its components in motion at once.
Artist Statement, James Merrill
I chose to do this work using pen and ink as the medium because it’s challenging. I sought to push the envelope from a technical and materials perspective. Complicated screen-based visuals are readily accessible, but doing it on paper is much more difficult.
Created with Javascript, p5js, Artist illustrations, consumed by a custom vector pipeline.
Drawings: 30″x22″, Archival Quality inks on 100% cotton paper
Created on Bantam Tools Nextdraw 2234 & Artframe Panorama pen plotters
Project Page | Instagram | X
