Bloom
Inspired by the research into Harmful Algae Blooms by former Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution scientist Suzi Clark, PhD, Bloom contains images from Acadia National Park in Maine. Acadia is a source of much of the research specimens studied by Clark.
Harmful Algae Blooms are individually harmless, but collectively dangerous. They can be viewed at the microscopic level—100,000 in a glass of water—or en masse from 20,000 miles above planet earth. They are unpredictable, random, complex, multifaceted and mysterious. Repetitive yet diverse, beautiful but with the potential for devastation, producing toxins that poison seals, otters, dolphins, whales, and even people.
The individual squares are extracts from eight images taken at Thunder Hole in Acadia National Park, together with eight false color variations. These were arranged in a checkerboard of 16 squares, with this panel replicated 24 times. The resulting 25 panels were compiled by chance, reflective of the geometric style of Ellsworth Kelly, into a grid of 400 squares total.
The original piece has an orange epicenter. The green variation of the original Bloom has its 25 panels of 16 squares rotated 180 degrees. It has a green epicenter.
Originally conceived with reference to Chuck Close's mosaic imagery, close-up the artwork shows individual water droplets, but from afar appears to possess swirling patterns throughout, with lines apparently not straight due to a phenomenon known as café wall illusion.
2020