WOAW Gallery is pleased to present Tim Irani’s in silico, the California-based artist’s exhibition at the gallery’s location in Blanc Art Space, Beijing.
in silico is a term referring to the process by which computer simulation is used for the purpose of experimentation. The New Latin term was created as an analogue to the preexisting terms in vitro and in vivo commonly used in biology. In this case, Irani amalgamates his own collection of flora and fauna “specimen” to study within the computer, or, in silico.
In Tim Irani’s new exhibition, the artist presents works designed using an array of 3D modeling and rendering softwares, which were first imagined digitally by building out an environment within a 3D model of the gallery space the artist made.
In a series of subsequent physical works, Irani documents biological life through the lens of computer simulation, exploring the contemporary condition of “living amongst technology”, as well as providing commentary on technology’s vast environmental impact.
Bold, acrylic colours are combined with fuzzy, artificially-manipulated lines to portray animals peering out gingerly from behind surrealist landscapes featuring lightning strikes and cascading flowers with stiff, chunky petals.
“I am both frightened and captivated by what the future holds and the internal and external effects of technological bio integration on us. My art serves as an ongoing observational catalogue documenting the inherent irony of technology,” the artist says.
Tim Irani (b. 1989, Orange County, California) is an artist living and working in Los Angeles. He has an architecture degree from the University of San Francisco, and a background in mobile product design. His artistic practice explores optimisation in a digital age, the pace with which the technological development renders current trends obsolete, and the nature of reality. Irani’s art draws on elements of computer-generated imagery and pop art, combining traditional painting techniques with sculpted wood elements to showcase a playfully distorted, plant-clad, man-made environment where technology and the natural world coexist in careful balance.
The show at WOAW Gallery Beijing will open on April 29, 2023.