Ray Jasinski

Image Making
By Ray Jasinski
St. Charles Public Library’s
February, 2007 Artist of the Month

The images in the display are mostly computer-generated. As a starting point, I use traditional photographs, and sometimes drawings, and of course, digital photos (all of which are my own). I take a cropped section of the photo or drawing, which I call a “cell.” From there I use fairly simple computer techniques to replicate and assemble the cells in a pattern-like way.

Sometimes I’ll take an image that emerges and extract a new “cell” from it and continue from there. But the main idea is to create a new Something—something completely different—related to, but hopefully well beyond what you see in the cell. And of course it doesn’t hurt if the final work turns out to be interesting or intriguing, and better yet if it has relevance for me as a creative means to express my particular take on the world.

Artist’s statement: I am a former art and photography teacher who has recently become interested in working with patterns to create new images. This has lead to an exploration of how photos of simple, commonplace objects and landscapes can be transformed into new digital imagery that is often surprising and intriguing.