On this website you will find digital artworks reproduced upon your purchase. Please contact me at ESParish@gmail.com or

@ErinParishArtist. 

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I start these works with digital files of paintings, often from long ago. Please visit Erinparish.com to see my paintings, my life's work

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These works are a combination of spirit space in between nature and mankind.

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If You Want to Read More:

AN IN 1984, WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF MACPAINT, TO WHICH I WAS INTRODUCED AS A FIRST-SEMESTER FRESHMAN IN COLLEGE AT BENNINGTON IN VERMONT. THE VERY FIRST PERSON I MET, MARK LORTON, DRAGGED ME FROM THE DINING HALL ONE DARK FALL NIGHT TO THE COMPUTER SCIENCE LAB. I HAD NEVER EVEN BEEN IN THIS BUILDING BEFORE, BUT HE LED ME, LITERALLY, TO A MAC AND GAVE ME THE MOUSE AND SAID "TRY IT!" I DOVE IN BUT DIDN'T GET FAR. IT WAS INTUITIVE, BUT I'D HAD MY OWN STUDIO ALREADY FOR FIVE YEARS AND ENJOYED THE SENSUOUSNESS OF OIL PAINT. THIS WAS JUST FOUR YEARS AFTER THE TERM "DIGITAL ART" CAME INTO USE (HTTPS://WWW.TIMETOAST.COM/TIMELINES/THE-HISTORY-OF-DIGITAL-ART). I REMEMBER DISTINCTLY HOW UNCONNECTED TO THE IMAGE ON THE COMPUTER I FELT.

 

​AFTER GRADUATE SCHOOL I TOOK SOME CLASSES IN PHOTOGRAPHY AT THE SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS, NY, NY. I JERRY-RIGGED A DARKROOM AND WAS GIVEN AN OLD ENLARGER. I TRIED WORKING THROUGH SOME IDEAS OF ABSTRACTION THROUGH PATTERNING AND MOTION BLUR. THE FORMAT WAS JUST TOO SMALL FOR ME AND THERE WAS SUCH A DISCONNECT BETWEEN THE SNAPPING OF THE PHOTO AND THEN THE FINAL IMAGE. I WAS USED TO THE IMMEDIACY OF PAINTING.

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WITH THE RISE OF DIGITAL CAMERAS, DIGITAL VIDEO CAMERAS, AND THEN SMARTPHONES WITH DIGITAL CAPTURING DEVICES, I CYCLED THROUGH EACH OF THESE DEVELOPMENTS, WANTING TO REACH SOMEWHERE WHICH HAD YET TO BE REVEALED. LIKE ALL ARTISTS, I STARTED DIGITALLY DOCUMENTING MY WORK AND IMPROVING THE IMAGES WITH PHOTOSHOP.

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I BECAME A REGULAR AT THE FOUR WALLS SLIDE AND FILM CLUB HOSTED BY MIKE BALLOU IN BROOKLYN IN THE 1990S. I PRESENTED SOME VIDEOS WHICH I HAD PIECED TOGETHER IN IMOVIE, THANKS TO WILLIAM STONE. I WOULD GO TO HIS LOFT IN DESOLATE CHELSEA ON THE WEST SIDE AT NIGHT AND LOSE MYSELF IN THE MORPHING IMAGERY.

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I GOT A GRANT IN 2001 TO BUY A POWERFUL SONY DIGITAL VIDEO CAMERA LIKE THE ONE THEY USED IN THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. I STARTED TAKING VIDEO AND TRYING TO FIND A WAY TO ABSTRACT IT MEANINGFULLY.

 

AROUND THIS TIME, I TOOK A CLASS IN FINAL CUT PRO AND SOON PURCHASED IT FOR MYSELF. MY EXPERIENCE WITH IMOVIE SEGWAYED INTO FINAL CUT SEAMLESSLY. FROM THEN ON, I HAD AN OPPORTUNITY TO SUBTLY LAYER MY DIGITAL IMAGE FILES IN A WAY I COULD ONLY DO IN MY MIND.

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I WATCHED OTHER PEOPLE IN THE ART WORLD COME WITH THEIR TAKE ON DIGITAL VIDEO, AND, LIKE ANY GOOD ARTIST, TOOK MENTAL NOTES.

 

IN 2001 BITFORMS GALLERY OPENED IN CHELSEA, A FEW BLOCKS FROM WHERE I LIVED. I WAS ALWAYS EXCITED TO SEE WHAT PEOPLE WERE MAKING, HOW ARTWORK HAD NOW BECOME TRULY INTERACTIVE. THE AUDIENCE BECAME PARTICIPANTS, AS HAD LONG BEEN HAPPENING IN PERFORMANCE ART.

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IN 2002 I EXHIBITED AN ABSTRACT DIGITAL VIDEO IN MY SOLO EXHIBITION OF PAINTINGS AT WINSTON WACHTER FINE ART, NY, NY. It WAS IN AN EDITION OF FIVE AND EACH CAME WITH A UNIQUE HARDCOVER BOOK WITH THE TEXT WRITTEN BY NEDA POURANG.

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THIS SAME VIDEO WAS CENTRAL TO MY EXHIBITION IN 2003 AT MATERIALS AND APPLICATIONS, AN ALTERNATIVE ART SPACE IN SILVERLAKE IN LOS ANGELES.

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MEANWHILE, ADOBE PHOTOSHOP HAD BEEN DEVELOPING AND THE FUTURE WAS BEFORE US... AND THE MAC COMPUTER BECAME INDISPENSABLE...

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TO BE CONTINUED...

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