Patrick Bulas

The phenomena studied in the fields of physics and astronomy continues to be a strong influence in my work. Images found in scientific journals and books as well as those found on the Internet still hold my interest, but recently I have also begun to take a closer look at the world around me in the context of the principles and theories developed by physicists.

These principles and theories do not just apply to interstellar forces that seem so far removed from our everyday lives nor do they just describe the subatomic world unseen by the unaided eye. The laws and theories of physics are fundamental and physicists strive to develop theories and ideas that can explain everything from minute subatomic particles being smashed apart in a lab to the piece of paper you are reading right now to a distant star light years away. I like the idea that I can have a print based on images of something like solar flares beside a print that is based on something I can directly observe such as light shining through the branches of a tree that I noticed on the way to work. Of course I could take this idea of fundamental laws too far and use any image I wanted without any sort of consideration, but this is where my role as an artist steps in.

Light continues to be important in my work. I continue to work largely through a reductive process, meaning I print the lightest color first, work back into the plate, print the next color and repeat the process until I reach the final image. It is interesting to see the light of each image develop as I rework the plate.

The images I develop are abstracted to some extent. I don’t want the viewer to get caught up in pinning down exactly what the image is. Instead, the images, regardless of where they come from, are intended to be observations of light and energy.

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