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cra·dle

/ˈkrād(ə)l/
noun
noun: cradle; plural noun: cradles
  1. 1.
    an infant’s bed or crib, typically one mounted on rockers.
    “the baby slept peacefully in its cradle”
     
    • infancy.
      noun: the cradle
      “a society that would secure the welfare of its citizens from cradle to grave“
    • a place, process, or event in which something originates or flourishes.
      “he saw Greek art as the cradle of European civilization
  2. 2.
    a framework on which a ship or boat rests during construction or repairs.
     
    • the part of a phone on which the receiver rests when not in use.
    • MINING
      a trough on rockers in which auriferous earth or sand is shaken in water to separate the gold.
 
verb
verb: cradle; 3rd person present: cradles; past tense: cradled; past participle: cradled; gerund or present participle: cradling
  1. 1.
    hold gently and protectively.
    “she cradled his head in her arms”
    • be the place of origin of.
      “the northeastern states cradled an American industrial revolution”
  2. 2.
    place (a phone receiver) in its cradle.
    “she cradled the receiver gently”

CRADLE is about the fragility of perception.

It is also a longitudinal survey of my two dimensional work since 2004.

I use photography as a departure point for creating images that also include overlays of appropriated web artifacts, woven patterns rendered at extremely high resolution, and other pieces of digitized information. For over twenty years I have been investigating the visual intersections of photography and networked computing. My work evolved out of the simple wish to understand and make visible something about the onset of screen culture, and the way photography both saturates and mediates contemporary experience. In my work I present intimate photographs made with a variety of camera devices that are overlaid with, in most cases, high resolution “screens” created in Photoshop. The screens bend and distort the visual accessibility and implied narrative of the underlying image(s), and are composed of scans of things like optical illusions, hybridized patterns from diverse pixel sources, images from children’s books, mapping data, computational modeling and mathematical illustrations. While I hope this project presents a record of relationship and intimacy, it is also meant to challenge many of our assumptions around the ubiquitousness of photographic images. I want my prints to push and pull the view – to hook the eye, so to speak, toward investigating further into the materiality of the object. At the macro level, the printed files (which are built at forty inch widths) are about figuration and even the sometimes clumsy objectification(s) of partnership. Microscopically, however, they are composed of more abstract and confounding bits of data.

I’m curious about perception (particularly of those people close to me) and how it is mutable over time with shifts in context and relationship.

My pictures are questions about questions I can’t easily answer. What is the magnetism and sometimes confusion of visual love and longing, and where does it come from in the mind? Who is this person that so strongly holds my attention and heart, and why? What remains if our precious data is lost?

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MATTHEW SWARTS A SINGLE BLUE EYE WITH A FAINT EYEBROW IS VISIBLE IN THE CENTER OF A PALE, ALMOST WHITE BACKGROUND, GIVING THE IMAGE AN ETHEREAL AND MINIMALISTIC APPEARANCE—A STRIKING EXAMPLE OF MINIMALISTIC VISUAL ART.
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MATTHEW SWARTS A VINTAGE ASTRONOMICAL PHOTOGRAPHY IMAGE OF DISTANT GALAXIES AND STARS SCATTERED ACROSS A DARK BACKGROUND, OVERLAID WITH A FAINT WHITE GRID. THE VISUAL GRID AND GLOWING CELESTIAL BODIES EVOKE A SENSE OF SCIENTIFIC OBSERVATION.
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MATTHEW SWARTS A BLURRED VISUAL OF A PERSON OR FIGURE IN A CROUCHED OR CRAWLING POSITION AGAINST A LIGHT, SOFT-TONED BACKGROUND. DETAILS AND FACIAL FEATURES ARE NOT CLEARLY VISIBLE, EVOKING THE SIGNATURE STYLE OF MATTHEW SWARTS IN CONTEMPORARY ART.
MATTHEW SWARTS A GLASS VASE HOLDS A BOUQUET OF ASSORTED FLOWERS WITH GREEN FOLIAGE, SET ON A DARK TABLE AGAINST A BLACK BACKGROUND. THE IMAGE IS DIMLY LIT, CREATING A MOODY, DRAMATIC EFFECT BY VISUAL ARTIST MATTHEW SWARTS.
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MATTHEW SWARTS A DIGITAL PAINTING OF A DELICATE PLANT WITH THIN STEMS AND SMALL BLUE FLOWERS, SET AGAINST A MUTED GRAYISH-PURPLE BACKGROUND. THE ARTWORK BLENDS VISUAL ART WITH A SOFT, ETHEREAL, AND ABSTRACT QUALITY.
MATTHEW SWARTS A BLACK AND WHITE OPTICAL ILLUSION DRAWING BY A CONTEMPORARY ARTIST THAT CAN BE SEEN AS EITHER AN OLD MAN WITH A MUSTACHE OR A YOUNG WOMAN TURNING AWAY, DEPENDING ON THE VIEWER'S PERSPECTIVE.
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MATTHEW SWARTS DENSE GREEN TREE BRANCHES WITH THIN, NEEDLE-LIKE LEAVES AND SCATTERED SMALL YELLOW FLOWERS CREATE A TEXTURED, INTRICATE NATURAL PATTERN IN SOFT, SUBDUED LIGHTING—REMINISCENT OF MATTHEW SWARTS'S ART.
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MATTHEW SWARTS A CONTEMPORARY CHECKERBOARD PATTERN WITH A CIRCULAR AREA IN THE CENTER REVEALS COLORFUL BIRDS AND GREEN PLANTS, SEAMLESSLY BLENDING INTO THE CHECKERED BACKGROUND AS IF WOVEN TOGETHER, EVOKING THE STYLE OF ARTIST MATTHEW SWARTS.
MATTHEW SWARTS A CLEAR GLASS VASE WITH WILTED YELLOW FLOWERS SITS ON A GREEN FABRIC-COVERED TABLE, CENTERED AGAINST A PLAIN DARK BACKGROUND—A STRIKING VISUAL INSPIRED BY CONTEMPORARY ARTIST INFLUENCES.
MATTHEW SWARTS A VISUAL ART PIECE: A SMALL WHITE SCULPTURE RESEMBLING A DRAGON’S HEAD WITH RED, ORANGE, AND YELLOW SPIKES, BLUE DETAILING, AND A THIN GREEN STEM, SET AGAINST A PLAIN BACKGROUND—PERFECT FOR CREATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY.
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MATTHEW SWARTS A BOUQUET OF YELLOW CALLA LILIES AND ORANGE MARIGOLDS ARRANGED IN A GLASS VASE BRINGS A TOUCH OF CONTEMPORARY ART TO YOUR SPACE, AS IF STYLED BY AN ARTIST, PLACED ELEGANTLY ON A TABLE INDOORS.
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MATTHEW SWARTS A MINIMALISTIC ART ILLUSTRATION OF THREE DELICATE FLOWERS WITH PURPLE PETALS AND GREEN STEMS, SET AGAINST A PALE MINT GREEN BACKGROUND. THE FLOWERS ARE CENTERED AND LIGHTLY DETAILED, CREATING A SOFT, ELEGANT LOOK.
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MATTHEW SWARTS A DENSE, DARK RAINFOREST WITH TALL TREES COVERED IN VINES, THICK UNDERGROWTH, AND A VARIETY OF GREEN FOLIAGE. THE DIM LIGHT CREATES A MYSTERIOUS, SHADOWY ATMOSPHERE REMINISCENT OF MATTHEW SWARTS’ VISUAL ART STYLE.
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