Chaz O’Neil, Terraform_01
2021, photography + collage on vinyl on panel, 48” x 48”
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Chaz is fascinated by space exploration; his work reflects the messages humans have sent into space in search of intelligent life. Tension of control and chaos is seen in the regular grids of precisely cut shapes layered with washes and resins that introduce chance.
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Chaz O’Neil
Fascinated by space exploration, O’Neil’s body of work reflects his interest in the messages that humans have sent into outer space in search of intelligent life. The repeated image in his Messenger Series is taken from the etched plaque designed by renowned astronomer Carl Sagan for NASA’s Voyager and Pioneer spacecraft. The plaque contains informational diagrams about human beings and the location of Earth in the infinitesimal chance that the spacecraft are intercepted by extra-terrestrial life forms.
O’Neil’s process of making these works involves a tension between control and chaos. The cut-out shapes that form regular grids and patterns are mathematical in their precision, while his spray paints, washes, and other use of pigments and resins open the work up to chance.