Celyn Bricker

"Clearing (1) is one of a series of pieces that I made during my time at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel. This series of paintings were based on AI generated images of nature, and all painted using a combination of compounds that are able to clean the air. This ‘useful’ or functional quality to the paintings makes them in contrast with the traditionally purely aesthetic or contemplative tradition in painting. They appear to be traditional materials, but are in some way ‘technological’ paintings based on a technologically imagined nature. 

I was able to explore using this air-cleaning material during my time at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel, and developed the aesthetic of this particular series while I was there (combining printmaking and painting with the air cleaning compounds). The method of application of the pigments and material meant the outcome was somewhat beyond my control – a little like working with an AI model in the first place – but the appearance of this particular work somehow reminded me of the atmosphere of my time in the hotel, and the ‘plum rain’ season of the months that I stayed there." (Celyn Bricker, 2021)