O

Ezra Engels

Area: Digital Art

Thesis Statement

In my project will_0_wisp I explore the folkloric concept of the will-o’-the-wisp, a strange phenomena that occurred throughout inhospitable regions of Europe and North America since at least 700 years ago. This concept is the motif that is recreated throughout this series of paintings. Here are traditional wall works, some with electronic hardware or digitally printed materials. At the end of the space a monitor displays moving digital paintings. This is built on my practice of combining media from digital and analogue disciplines.

I take inspiration from organic forms, such as plants, sea life, and microscopic biology. My own forms are abstracted, and have developed alongside abstract mark making and simple symbolic representation of human(made) forms, such as eyes, interior spaces/things, or infrastructure. The symbolic forms aim to indicate human presence or perception without a bodily form.

Will-o’-the-wisps were reported in first hand accounts as small dancing “flames” in marshlands near reeds and standing water. They were cool to the touch and easily extinguished. The phenomenon apparently disappeared during the 19th century, leaving what may simply be bioluminescence or ignited gas a rare mystery in the modern world. They were never photographed, but we instead are left with records of their strange existence. The wisps have gained a number of cultural explanations and names, which often reference their effects on perception and state of mind. This ambiguity and fleeting presence is reflected in the layering and flickering of the digital paintings.

Wisps exist in the same realm as other mysterious experiences, such as UFO sightings, ancient angels, or cryptid accounts. These experiences also exist in what we know; Footage of the deep ocean shows nothing beyond the submarine light, save the light from some alien-like creatures. Some of which shines the same heatless blue and yellow reported in accounts of the will-o’-wisp. The digital works use a pixelated aesthetic inspired by aesthetics of the internet, which is our contemporary home for such stories. will_0_wisp captures the wisps in a digital world they never lived to see. It explores their possible origins, in biology and in our mythmaking. It celebrates what is ambiguous, out of reach, and maybe forever unknowable.

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