Optical Debris: Painting and the Act of Looking
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: "This studio-based inquiry examines the layered nature of contemporary vision, where sight is increasingly filtered through the thresholds of glass and screens. The work focuses on optical debris, the glares, reflections, and ghost images inherent in the everyday visual field, and positions these phenomena as a defining condition of modern perception. This series of eleven oil paintings situates the work within the evolution of the sublime and within contemporary understandings of mediation and the visual. In these paintings, the slow, physical act of applying oil paint becomes a deliberate counterpoint to the infinite flow of mediated imagery. Bursts of prismatic light and the structural framework of the window and grid generate a visual complexity that resists immediate consumption, demanding instead a sustained, embodied encounter. The work ultimately identifies a contemporary sublime found within the expansive, refracted debris of the everyday."
DOI: 10.35010/216r-ps64
Author: Fantuz, Emilie
Language: English
Subfield: Visual Arts and Performing Arts
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7225640556
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