North America

John Houck

Untitled #275_06, 2 colors, #FF8F89, #9E7A8F

2013

Untitled #275_06, 2 colors, #FF8F89, #9E7A8F, 2013

John Houck’s Untitled #275_06, 2 colors, #FF8F89, #9E7A8F is a captivating exploration of digital and physical processes. The artwork takes a pair of colors from the hexadecimal color matrix arranged into a gridded index sheet. Part of Houck’s Aggregates Series, this work involves a repetitive cycle of printing, folding, re-photographing, and re-printing; building layers of digital input and physical manipulation.The systematic use of colors #FF8F89 and #9E7A8F evokes a harmonious yet contrasting visual experience, emphasizing the interplay between the digital color matrix and the tactile qualities of paper. Through this process, Houck transforms a simple color grid into a complex, textured surface, where each layer signifies both digital precision and the physical act of manipulation. The artwork blurs the lines between digital creation and handcrafted artistry, challenging viewers to consider the relationships between technology, materiality, and the accumulation of visual data over time.

John Houck works primarily in photography and specializes in still-life vignettes. To make his works, Houck arranges an object on a sheet of paper, photographs, and prints it, then places that print back into a new composition, repeating the process again and again until arriving at an aggregate image. The layers appear to be digitally altered, but he does not utilize any post-production interventions. But Houck is not a purist by any means; he is significantly influenced by his professional experience as a computer programmer, and his artistic methodology mirrors a kind of algorithmic code. By referencing a conventional artistic genre through an iterative and contingent process, Houck offers up photography as a mode of thought.

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John Houck Untitled #275_06, 2 colors, #FF8F89, #9E7A8F

John Houck

Untitled #275_06, 2 colors, #FF8F89, #9E7A8F