James Brey De Pere, Wisconsin
		Listen to this artist. (AU 80K)
		E-mail this artist at pixeleyz@netnet.net.
		Take a look at this artist's homepage.

In these works, the human element is of utmost importance. This work is an attempt to use the new technology of computer imaging in a way which is of genuine aesthetic worth. A piece is finished only when it says something of human emotion, beauty or experience.

In my earlier work, I was frequently bothered by my photographs' inherent closeness to physical reality. Through the magic of the computer, I am able to create images which come almost directly from my mind. Their relationship to the objective world is diminished, allowing greater subjectivity of expression. Thus, the work is more personal, and more expressive.

These images contain modern paradigms of the nude form, as well as more timeless portrait-like depictions of facial expression. The series is influenced by such non-photographic artists as Picasso, Braque and Pearlstein. However, the primary influence is my own experience and my search for beauty and reason in the human condition. The expressionist influence evident in the work is also a result of the synergy between human mind, camera and computer. All of these images are resultant of numerous computer/human interpolations of the original image, no one photographic method or lighting, no one programmed effect was used to produce them. Several of the images required the creation of unique algorithms which are used and then discarded without documentation, thus insuring the uniqueness of these images.

The work emphasizes the soul or essence of the person photographed, its oneness with nature, and its independence of spirit. The nude form is used as a metaphoric representation of deeper qualities. the personality, the intellect, the spiritual dimension, all of which cannot be directly photographed.

This work is also about the future of humanity in an increasingly more technology-intensive society. The mind of humanity enters the virtual plane of existence, while the human body is left behind - exposed, vulnerable, and frail in the real world. Like many artists, I fear that technology may enamor us too much, taking us, as a species, farther away from our natural state of being. It is my hope that through a more human application of these technological tools, they can actually help provide insights as to what it means to be human.