Saul Villegas: Pareidolia | Palinopsia
In the Sesnon Underground Gallery near the koi pond, Porter College, UC Santa Cruz.
Closing Reception on Friday, November 22, 5 p.m. - 9 p.m.
Saul Villegas Artist Statement
Pareidolia | Palinopsia presents painted illustrations and digitally enhanced photographs that reflect a conceptual mindscape. The present installation allows the viewer to experience an interaction between created image and perceived mental imagery. Patterns, textures, and ambiguous imagery revealed by pareidolia are depicted and stylized using ink illustrations, guiding the viewer to discover human figures and expressive gestures in an abstracted form. Physical light forms caused by ambiguous afterimages due to palinopsia are evident in the altered digital photographs. In some instances, pareidolia and palinopsia intersect and create a mixed-medium art piece, transcending the photograph into a whimsical and imaginative image. Selected photographs taken around UCSC are held in conversation alongside the original ink illustrations. Through the intersection of painting and photography, the artwork designed invites the audience to explore the circumstances in which the forming of visual stimuli are constructed through perception. These altered images are the result of the initial encounter with the images and the experience/occurrences of pareidolia and palinopsia. Using photographic references and painted illustrations, hues and contrast are enhanced and exaggerated to transfigure mundane scenes. The combination of both painting and photography create a bridge from traditional methods of design and introduce a space for photography and graphics media to assist in the portrayal of imagery we see versus imagery we imagine seeing. This dialogue between pareidolia and palinopsia in art serves as a metaphor for the way our perception adjusts to create, view, and interpret one’s self through the lens of encounter and experience.
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