Michel Moyse is an artist, teacher and co-founder/director of the Center for Digital Art, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing educational resources and promoting art in Brattleboro, Vermont. Michel’s artistic career spans nearly 5 decades and includes works on paper, glass, plastic, film, single and multi-channel projections he calls ‘motionpaintings’.
This site is specifically dedicated to recent artwork and ‘motionpaintings’. To see older artwork (paintings circa 1970s, 1980s, oils on glass & acrylic), experimental films, and collaborative work, visit michelmoyseart.com. (to go directly to older ‘paintings’, click here)
To see the works “in motion”, go to Motionpaintings (Gallery Simulations), Motionpainting Portraits, Major Motionpaintings, Erotic Geometries, Domestic Loops, etc. (i.e. other pages or any of the sub-categories).
ABOUT MOTIONPAINTINGS
EXHIBITION
As of this writing, there are two main options for exhibition: Traditional projection (or ultra short-throw projection) and TV monitor. Although each option has pros and cons, either choice entails a specific context that orients the viewer in habitual expectations. Large screen projection requires a darkened room and suggests a narrative “film” experience. ‘Narrative’ elements may be present in my work but there’s no ‘story’). TV monitors, on the other hand, can be seen in broad daylight, and while this offers a viewing experience analogous to that of seeing paintings in a museum or gallery, the downside is that monitors come with predetermined aspect ratios. That’s a limitation that creates problems for me because my work often ignores traditional aspect ratios. So when all is said and done, I prefer the ultra short-throw projection because the projected image can be seen in a semi-darkened environment and frame size is determined by the original motionpainting.
Most of these works are meant for large screen projection (suggested 12 – 16 ft. diagonal) or ultra short-throw projection and continuous viewing (i.e., looped). Unless otherwise noted, audio should be played at a low level as ambient sound (or not at all).
A note about aspect ratios: Viewing any motionpainting that is not 16X9 on an HD monitor (or 4X3 if original is SD) will distort the image or add unwanted borders.
Future technological developments will likely allow displays that can be seen in larger formats and broad daylight. In the meantime, click on Gallery Simulations for an example of what my work might look like in a museum or gallery setting.
For exhibition purposes, please obtain original digital file from the artist.
ARTIST STATEMENT
That a work of art occupies multiple spaces is not new, and history abounds with examples: The Medieval diptych and triptych; Egyptian hieroglyphs; and more recently, Cubism, to name just a few. But that the process itself becomes objectified and codified into new modes of artistic expression is, I think, a recent development. The causes for this can be traced at least partially to our perception of reality enhanced through a variety of sensory manipulations – television, radio, video, computer. This creates an environment which redefines in fundamental ways what we mean by ‘reality’ and which – and this is the important point – calls for a reinterpretation of what is specifically relevant to us and therefore worthy of exploration and expression. This then forcibly entails concomitant shifts in modes of perception – that is to say, in consciousness. That this coincides with the dissolution of the (largely Western) Cartesian dichotomy of object/subject – of conscious and subconscious; of self and other – need not surprise us. Boundaries are in constant flux; reinterpreted and redefined both on the personal level and the sociopolitical level. Process takes precedence over product; form over content. What this points to is, in fact, a new understanding of artistic expression. For example, the two concepts of ‘integrity’ and ‘unity’, so critical in defining art of the past – in defining a spatially and temporally homogeneous sensibility (balance, harmony, etc.) – are now modified to include disparate and random sensibilities; to include, for example, the ‘incongruous’ as well as the ‘congruous’, the ‘disharmonious’ as well as the ‘harmonious’, the ‘irrelevant’ as well as the ‘relevant’, the ‘incoherent’ as well as the ‘coherent’. And this, I believe, is the specific purview of the ‘contemporary’ artist.
For a very personal look at what art means to me, please click on Five Essays on Art & Painting.