Nicolas Sassoon: Liquid Landscapes
Nicolas Sassoon's animated art evokes the beauty of Surrey's parks, beaches, and rivers.
Inspired by photographs of key geographic sites around Surrey—such as Redwood Park, Nicomekl River, and Serpentine Fen—digital artist Nicolas Sassoon has created a series of hypnotic animations for UrbanScreen. Changing every night, the animations invoke rippling reflections, flowing waves, and the growth and decay of foliage.
Sassoon renders the scenes in limited but vibrant colours informed by each location as well as by the retro, pixelated look of early web design. He condenses each location into a series of colours and shapes. This abstract treatment gives an impression of Surrey’s natural environment. It also alludes to how digital images shape our experience of the world. We often see nature through a lens, whether holding our own cameras in front of our face or scrolling through friends’ pictures on social media. Liquid Landscapes illustrates how data visualization methods represent real places and alter them.
The artwork celebrates the geographic diversity throughout Surrey and challenges us to think about our complicated relationship with nature and technology.
Liquid Landscapes is accompanied by an essay by Assistant Curator Rhys Edwards, as part of our Surrey Art Gallery Presents series.
About the Artist
Nicolas Sassoon’s practice translates ideas of materiality and immateriality into digital animations, installations, prints, and sculptures. His research often leads him to engage in cross-disciplinary projects in the fields of architecture, electronic music, textiles, and art. Sassoon is currently based in Vancouver, and his work has been exhibited at galleries and festivals across the globe.
Curator: Rhys Edwards
Origin of Exhibition: Surrey Art Gallery
Image credit: Nicolas Sassoon, Boundary Bay, still from Liquid Landscapes, 2018, a site-specific digital animation for Surrey UrbanScreen. Image courtesy of the artist.