Art that utilizes global positioning systems (GPS) and other computer technology is on exhibition October 2 – November 28 at the Tarble Arts Center, Eastern Illinois University. Making up the exhibition are static and motorized sculpture, and digital drawings, all by artist Stephen Cartwright.
The artist will talk about his work at a free lecture on Wednesday, October 6, 7pm, at the Tarble. The public is invited. Titled Topographies, this exhibition will serve as the basis of the 2010 Junior/Senior High Art Enrichment program for area schools. The Tarble’s Enrichment program is underwritten by First Mid-Illinois Bank and Trust and this program is presented by Eastern students in cooperation with the EIU Art Education faculty.
The artist will talk about his work at a free lecture on Wednesday, October 6, 7pm, at the Tarble. The public is invited. Titled Topographies, this exhibition will serve as the basis of the 2010 Junior/Senior High Art Enrichment program for area schools. The Tarble’s Enrichment program is underwritten by First Mid-Illinois Bank and Trust and this program is presented by Eastern students in cooperation with the EIU Art Education faculty.
Using GPS Cartwright has recorded the exact latitude, longitude and elevation of his position on the earth every hour since June 21, 1999. This includes the more than 20,000 miles he has traveled by bicycle through the United States, Europe and Asia He uses this information to create real and virtual maps that plot his position in three dimensions relative to time or elevation.
To explain his art Cartwright states, “These trips are an attempt to comprehend the world around me - they reinforce the vastness of the world/universe and the inconsequentiality of a lone person amid the multitude that exist past, present and future.”
“The world is more complex than I can comprehend, but I attempt to gain some understanding through the recording and analyzing of tentative forays over the surface.”
“The body of work created for the exhibition at the Tarble Art Center is an atlas of my life over the last decade. Each piece emerged by collecting information from everyday life. In addition to hourly latitude and longitude recordings, I have also used the time of sunrise and sunset and mileage from cycling and running as source material for the works in the exhibition,“ said Cartwright.
Most of the sculpture is made of plastic in various forms and colors, with some internally lit, others suspended from the ceiling, and a motorized piece. Also included is a motorized sonic sculpture made of steel chimes. Some of the art was made using an industrial-type computer-based fabricator.
Cartwright received a BA in Studio Art from the University of California at Davis and an MFA in Sculpture from Tyler School of Art, Temple University. He is an assistant professor of Art & Design at the University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign and has served as a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Sculpture and Extended Media at Virginia Commonwealth University. Prior to teaching full-time, Cartwright worked as a fabricator in the exhibit, model making and prototyping industry.
The Tarble exhibition is the first showing of most of the artwork, created with assistance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Campus Research Board.
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