Deep inside each and every one of us is an expectation. An expectation of who others want us to be,
who we think others want us to be, who we expect ourselves to be. Expectation precedes everything we do in our lives. It determines the outcome of any situation and without it most of us feel empty, wrong, misunderstood. But is expectation really that powerful? Is having an expectation the same as sub consciously attracting your wants/needs to manifest into your life? When one stops expecting an outcome, will there actually be an outcome? Or will one finally begin to live one’s life? Expectation often gets in the way of living. When an art is made, where does this expectation lie? Some say the artist’s intended aesthetic exists within her soul, others say it consciously planned. What happens when art is made with only one’s mind? No hands involved, just the one’s thoughts? Or imagine being able to make a mark on paper with the movement of your eyes. Is making art with one’s mind and expectation or an intention?
Jochem Hendricks and Warren Neidich are two digital artists who use a form of technology to create an image, but no hands are involved, only the mind.

Jochem Hendricks creates drawings through the use of a computer attached to an individual’s head — the individual draws through exclusive use of the expression and movement of her eyes. The computer translates the movements into a drawing, which contains varying line weights, full of emotion and expression.

Photograph of Jochem Hendrick wearing the eye equipment used in his Eye Drawings.

Jochem Hendricks, Eye Drawings, 1992 – 1993

American artist Warren Neidich attached lights to a person’s fingers and arms while the person
performed sign language. The result, an image reflective of an abstract painting engaging the viewer in an image with motion, dominance and repetition. Neidich takes the same image and represents it twice, creating two separate images, each able to stand on its own.

Niedich’s art explores the relationship between the artist and the brain, which he calls neuroaesthetics, presenting the viewer with altered perceptions of reality. Neidich demonstrates as an artist, that one can effectively employ scientific phenomena in one’s art, as he is formally trained in neuroscience, biology and medicine.

 

Conversation Maps, Warren Neidich