In this Studio Visit, we delve into the fascinating world of Daniel Hill, an artist whose work is a seamless blend of scientific inquiry and creative expression. Rooted in a deep curiosity for the natural world and inspired by patterns that connect sound, vision, and form, Hill’s practice transcends traditional boundaries between art and science. From exploring interference patterns to integrating soundscapes into his visual works, his process is as much about rigorous experimentation as it is about intuitive creation. This conversation reveals the depth of Hill’s artistic philosophy, his influences ranging from prehistoric cave art to Chladni figures, and his quest to balance meditative reflection with perceptual impact in his work. Through this Q&A, we uncover the meticulous methodologies and conceptual frameworks that make his art a compelling exploration of the interconnectedness of all things.
Your work is rooted in both a strong scientific methodology and a solid conceptual foundation. Could you elaborate on how scientific principles specifically influence the conceptual aspects of your art?
First and foremost, would be the overall state of mind without which science would not exist: to be deeply curious about, inspired by, in awe of, and passionate about wanting to understand the grand intricacies of the entity we call nature. Having a scientific background while also being on the path of the artist presents an irresistible opportunity: can the creative process be better understood when approached with the thinking and methodology of science? If anything, just for the art itself- to make it more impactful and interesting?
After decades of working at this question, my answer would be an unequivocal yes. Granted, a true art and science collaboration is a tightrope dance with a juggernaut, as science can easily dominate and then the art ceases to be art. And for me, if there is not enough science, the work somehow is less interesting to make- and look at- and offers less insight.
The right balance, however, provides a framework for which to begin to understand the un-understandable. But the balance is complex and the void between the quantities of science and the qualities of art is currently uncharted. So, science manifests in my process first as a perspective- a way of thinking that prioritizes big picture ideas and concepts that can have meaningful resonance for every human being.
Next would be quantifying as much as possible in a qualitative realm: measuring, testing, experimenting, observing, researching, learning, reading, designing, and utilizing systems- and looking for patterns that connect.
I have devised a system for making my work that is comprised of adjustable processes embedded within adjustable processes. This allows the entire system to be fine-tuned like an instrument, which I then use to explore aesthetic inquiries. Granted aesthetic decisions are decidedly qualitative, but here I regard decades of work, study, testing, thinking, receiving input, revising, etc., as data which, in turn, informs the adjustments or tuning of the system.
And since I am human, mistakes are inevitable, revealing an interesting distinction between what is essentially the system- or what a 3-D printer might make- and what is distinctly human- including all the subtleties of the breath of consciousness focused through the human mind and embodied in paint. I measure and test as much as possible, what remains is the ghost in the machine: emergent qualities fused with the human body, knowledge, and experience.
Who are some of your artistic influences?
As a painter, my biggest influence is sound and the processes, forms, and patterns of the natural world- and how these in turn, might relate to the structure or propagation of sound. Sound-like patterns can be found in surprising places. When my paintings first morphed into interference patterns, I then learned of interference patterns everywhere, even to the extent that subatomic particles within the very fabric of the universe (or multiverse) appear as tiny packets of interference patterns blinking in and out of existence, just like sound or music.
Sound consists only of frequency, wavelength, amplitude, and time- making music the most abstract of artforms and therefore has the capacity to be more detached from the societal baggage of the era in which it was made. This allows for more timeless and universal art. Archetypal, symbolic ideas, and ego transcending metaphors are why prehistoric cave art still communicates so powerfully tens of thousands of years later. It is profound that we can essentially communicate with an individual through the distant foggy depths of prehistory.
Prehistoric parietal art has been another influence, in particular the abstract drawings found in caves, which interestingly, was not at first recognized as art at all. This is likely because abstract art did not exist in the culture of the 19th century Europeans that discovered the caves. We are inclined to see only that which we already know- rendering us effectively blind to a wonderous universe hidden just under our nose.
Studying history has also been a big influence- and helps remind us of how myopic we often tend to be as a species. Artists should always visualize how their work will be considered by future generations, for our art exists at least as much for the future as it does for the present, and potentially much more.
Countless movies and books have imagined constructing a functioning time machine, but we have one already. Art lives on far longer than the bodily presence of its maker and therefore its biggest audience are the unborn generations of the future- for which our current societal issues will likely be irrelevant and possibly even ridiculous.
You describe your artistic process as being “scientifically inspired” with a focus on pragmatic results. Can you walk us through a typical project from conception to completion? What specific scientific methods or approaches do you incorporate?
This past summer I had the beautiful opportunity to make a large-scale painting tailored for a specific architectural space. I have long wondered: why do we live in rectangles? If we take an animal out of its natural habitat, we should not be surprised if they become unwell. And yet, this is the exact mistake we have made with ourselves since moving into rectangles centuries ago. We now spend most of our time indoors, detached from the very entity that birthed us. Neuroscience has shown a measurable connection physiologically between body and environment.
Decades of work exploring these ideas through my work, leads me to think there are currently unmeasurable yet significant links between cognitive states and our aesthetic and sonic environments. Could human interest in having art in our living spaces be fulfilling a necessity to remember and reconnect with nature in some way- hence landscape and flower paintings being so prominent? I view my work not as a rendering of nature- but as an actual natural specimen, made by a parallel system, not mimicking the forms of nature explicitly, but implicitly through exploring emergent processes.
It is no mystery why sea view real estate is so hotly desired- the mind recognizes itself within the vastness of this space and the meeting of two worlds: the land and sea, and the conscious and unconscious mind. The mind functions best and even thrives when balanced in a mirrored environment such as this. But art does something nature cannot- imbuing the experience with a certain awareness, of consciousness, and becoming itself a net of perception.
At its best, art expands our vision and when that vision is nurtured, we also expand our capacity to attend to the world around us. For the quality and depth of attention we bring to the world proportionally determines the quality and depth of experience. Attention is fractal, the more one looks the more there is to see. So, making Equivalent 20 manifests years of work into the material world- a painting to be lived with and within- a visual architecture for the mind to occupy like a window on the sea- painting as habitat.
The integration of vision and sound plays a crucial role in your art. How do you typically approach this synthesis in your work, and are there any particular technologies or techniques you use to meld these senses effectively?
The integration of sound and vision began first as just a question- is it possible to make paintings more like music- and music more like paintings? That is, make paintings that move and music that stands still? I do not have synesthesia, the neurological condition in which the senses mix. However, I have employed a kind of imposed and immersive form of synesthesia.
By being fully engaged for years in both the visual practice of painting and drawing conjointly with the practice of making music and sound environments the division between sound and vision has blurred. The two practices inevitably have influenced each other. Several years into the attempt to answer that question, a memorable moment came when I discovered cymatics, or the visual aspect of sound. It was a video of a metal plate (called a Chladni plate) on top of a speaker and covered with a homogenous granular material like sand.
When a sine wave is played through the speaker, a clear symmetrical figure appears like magic on the plate, revealing the resonance pattern of the input frequency. I immediately noticed the similarity of these sound-glyphs, which are called Chladni figures, and my paintings. These figures also appear in my work and are formed in the same way- through the nodal lines in the pattern and are indicative of process and hence, the passage of time. In my paintings I have called these figures seed-forms as they play a generative role in growing the entirety of the painting.
Chladni figures appear connected to structures in nature such as a snowflake or tortoise shell. Interestingly, I have found the seed-forms from my paintings to be like the forms of leaves yet know of no connection to the morphology of leaves and standing waves or interference patterns. The source of the seed-forms in my work manifests first from the architecture of the human body moving in space, while making a fluid line very slowly and carefully. This, along with maintaining the rule that the patterns must maintain proper amplitude and frequency to avoid pooling paint. Tending to these rules- how much to emphasize an element or not I find very similar to mixing sounds at a mixing board- bring it up a little here- pan a bit there- EQ here- until it sounds good- and is something I want to hear.
That my paintings look very similar to cymatic forms was confirmation that the work was making progress in answering that question I had so many years ago. When the mind takes time to hold and sustain a question, the conscious and unconscious minds can synchronize, and when considering up to 95% of thought is unconscious, that is significant.
Can you discuss your soundscapes like Topos and Field Formations in relation to your non-audio work? Where do they fit in? Do the repeating audio patterns play similar roles to your paintings?
The part of my process when the paint lines go on with a squeeze bottle requires long periods of single pointed concentration. The degree of difficulty in making these lines for a sustained period might be enough reason to avoid doing it at all, but I have found significant benefit from this process.
Along with deepening my ability to concentrate and therefore deepening my ability to attend to the world around me, this kind of activity has shown to increase the hippocampus, the part of the brain that governs learning and memory. So, I compose, perform, and record music to be listened to while painting to assist with focus and concentration. I found the most effective music for this tends to have lower beats per minute and many studies concur: lower beats per minute or beatless music is better for problem solving, focus, and creativity.
The Field Formation series started with this intention and grew out a sound installation I made called Reciprocal Synchrony utilizing field recordings of cicadas, tree frogs, and peepers. Like much of my music, Field Formations can be used as sonic support to promote all creative, meditative, and reflective activities.
Topos is the result of exploring the Greek Cycladic islands in the Aegean Sea. These islands are stunning places of such sublime beauty beneficial to both mind and body. I wondered if the precious mind states evoked from these magical places could be preserved sonically- not as a field recording, but as a sonic manifestation of the mind state evoked by a beautiful place and preserved to augment life anywhere, thus bringing an aspect of the Cycladic islands to chaotic city life, if only in the mind.
The album Borealis makes use of this same concept with the atmospheric northern woods in place of the Cycladic islands. And yes, repeating audio patterns- as loops- play a significant role in my music. But loops alone become static in their predictability, so I treat or sculpt the sounds in real time with effects and also play bass guitar, guitar, synthesizer, percussion, and incorporate found sounds, field recording, and invented instruments. The mixing board, where I can layer, shape, texturize, and sculpt the sound into a sonic experience is as important as an instrument itself as any other.
You aim to create visual art that is perceptually powerful yet simultaneously meditative and reflective. How do you balance these seemingly contrasting goals in your creations? Can you share an example of a piece where you felt you achieved this balance particularly well?
Although seemingly a contrast, perceptually powerful and meditative are both the results of the same process in my work. If my paintings have the capacity to capture attention it is because they are the tangible product of attention- a very specific form of attention. As it turns out, the form of attention needed to make my paintings is very meditative due to the careful, cyclical aspect of the process and interestingly, this also happens to yield an optical, moray quality.
This aspect I can choose to amplify or not. For example, with the high chroma of red and blue, an entirely different optical experience is produced when compared to black and white. They each attract and help support different qualities of attention. Both aim to help facilitate downward motion in brain frequency through induction and help promote lower frequency states such as flow states, creativity, and meditation. The advantages of such mind states are well known and highly desired: increased creativity, productivity, optimal performance, decreased anxiety and stress, etc. Art as medicine. Art as catalyst.
What are you currently working on?
Illusory Bodies is the most recent piece- a collaborative, site-specific, two-room, four channel, video/sound installation with Angie Drakopoulos. Illusory Bodies refers the transitory nature of both the places in which humans live and the bodies we occupy. We extend our body/mind onto our environment and our environment reciprocally shapes who we are. The best word for this union of animal and environment is umvelt, coined by biologist Jakob von Uexkull to stress the point that any animal cannot be understood outside of, or without, their specific environment.
Much as a spider’s web is an extension of its nervous system, performing remote sensory perceptions such as hearing, the human body also extends into the world around us, and this is reflected in our architecture and the capacities of the human perceptual system. Even though it has only been the last two centuries that we have begun to spend ninety percent of our time indoors, it is common to think of architecture more as containers in which we exist, as opposed to fields of influence with which we inter-exist. Illusory Bodies explores these concepts in response to the context of the mansion built for controversial archeologist Heinrich Schliemann, the discoverer of ancient Troy and Mycenae.
We will be performing a version of this piece with me live mixing the music along with multiple video projections in the coming months. Also, I have just finished a new album called Kymatiko. Years in the making, this one explores mid-tempo trance states with dub bass lines, gamelan guitar, field recordings, and swirling atmospheres. Kymatiko will be my first album to finally hit the main streaming services after decades of making music. More details about both the performance and album will be posted at my Instagram and website- @kymatiko and http://www.danielhill.net.
IMAGE CREDIT: All photos by Daniel Hill unless otherwise noted. Source for cymatics/turtle shell photo:
https://jsleney.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/the-shape-of-sound4.pdf.
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