ARTIST STATEMENT:

Drawn freehand on a computer, my drawings do not contain photographs or scanned material. A hybrid process, my practice brings together the opposite notions of handmade and technological, of organic and mechanical, of physical and virtual.

My works may be interpreted as models for planned communities or as views of fictional suburbs, referring to the dual role of the computer as a tool for urban planning as well as image capture. At the intersection of mapping and landscape art, my images use an aerial viewpoint, providing distance and combining the abstract qualities inherent in maps with the descriptive powers of landscape art.

In addition, these invented suburbs exaggerate existing situations and drive the subject matter into the investigative field of science fiction. Examining the relation between design and actual lived experience, the works subvert the apparent rationality of urban design, exposing conflicts that lurk beneath the surface. Beyond the suburban example, these digital drawings are a way of thinking about design, the city and society as a whole.

Learn more about Ross Racine.