Liquid Landscapes Inspired By Abstract Expressionism

Artist J.D. Doria mixes liquid materials to create flowing forms, using images of the process in the final artwork.

June 19, 2013, 3:30pm

You might look at the above image and wonder just what it is you're seeing—an alien landscape? The world of microorganisms? A CG-creation? All of the above? The patterns and forms are actually liquids shot in closeup swirling around in a glass container. They're the work of Isreali artist J.D. Doria who describes his work as "painting as multitude" and his recent series The Petri Dish Project is, you might be able to guess, inspired by the Petri dish.

"It comes to replace the canvas and the paper." Doria says, speaking about the dish usually associated with science, but which is now increasingly becoming a tool used in art. "It is placed upon a light-table and above it, on a crane, a digital camera is positioned for high resolution close ups. Within the Petri dish I am “growing” images using different mélanges of liquid colors and materials." These materials have different reactive properties and this, combined with the different colors, creates the interactions which Doria photographs the dynamics of to create his abstract images, which take inspiration from Jackson Pollock and his contemporaries.

After enhancing the images, Doria selects a set he likes choosing a circular photo to capture the initial stages, which is followed by a number of images which have been extracted from the process.

Image created using 3D scanner

In his other work, which similarly incorporates the process into the final piece, he utilizes a 3D scanner to augment his photography. Mixing acrylic, ink, glass colours, and water on paper he captures the process and movements of the materials with a suspended camera. Doria explains how he then feeds the captured images into the scanner and extroplates parts of them to turn into a single image creating a kind of mash up of the creative process. This way the process of the creation becomes part of the final piece, both becoming merged so you can't distinguish which is which.

"At the end of the process, the work comes out as a multitude, a series of images that are both a plural form of the base state of the painting and also independent images of their own accord." Doria says.

Check out some of his images below