Sanctuary
2001, Digital cibachrome print, perspex lenticular, 46 x 68cm
Sanctuary
The idea to investigate lenticular printmaking came out of the blue in a meeting in 2000 with Sally Townsend of the Multiple Store. It was fortuitous that at this time lenticular design was becoming increasingly accessible through digital technology. I constructed an empty rodent cage within a 3D modelling software program and animated a twenty-four-frame rotation around a vertical axis. I didn’t want to simply reproduce a lenticular illusion of an actual cage. The related paintings had explored various ways of disrupting the strong illusion of three-dimensionality of the cage through processes of filling in the spaces between the bars in different colours. So I animated a fluctuation of colours in Photoshop through the rotational sequence of frames. Due to the conflicting perceptual demands of 3D and animation, the subtlety of the optical effects in this piece, called Sanctuary, contrast with the spectacular, eye-catching intentions of popular uses of the technology.
