Between Nature & Freedom (2018)
Between Nature and Freedom is about the murky darkness accompanied by the uncertainty of the unknown. This work appropriates scientific-based images from the archives of NASA and microbiology laboratories. Cooper Giegerich is interested in these scientific-based images because of their role in the formation of knowledge for humanity’s curious goal of understanding nature and the universe. Prompted by this curiosity, Cooper Giegerich digitally manipulates, erases and arranges the appropriated images into improbable landscapes. These landscapes are vaguely familiar but also alien, requiring time for examination and reflection.
Along with curiosity, the theory of sublime is an additional source of inspiration. This body of work also explores notions of sublime magnitude and critical thought when overwhelmed by nature’s grandeur. Confronted with velvety darkness and initially obscure forms, viewers are entangled within the exalting mysteries of nature along with the need to decipher and understand. Cooper Giegerich’s work lives within the murky darkness where the mind is freed and theories can become reality. This body of work employs fictionalization of research-based images as a method to empower unrestrained freedom to contemplate, experiment and maneuver through the mysteries in nature and the cosmos.
Through the faculty of the mind, humanity can imagine infinite worlds and environments that may exist in the universe. Curiosity and the theory of the sublime can empower unrestrained freedom to contemplate and explore mysteries within nature and the cosmos. Through spaces that have been synthesized by curiosity, manipulation and erasure of scientific-based images my artwork builds a bridge between nature and freedom.
