In my mind, there’s an element
of a weird religious devotion
to these devices and a
supernatural connection to them...
the people building them, like Steve Jobs. We have all of the
more of a discussion. I’m interested in how everything
technology and potential – anyone can sit down and make
we encounter – even though it feels very physical – on
amazing things now – but it hasn’t brought us any further.
the microscopic level, we’re dealing with energy. There’s
We have no idea how these things actually work, so it almost
no physicality to it, just a lot of empty space with electric
becomes a magical thing: you just have faith that it does
and chemical bonds. With 3D, you’re making objects that
work. In my mind, there’s an element of a weird religious
are pure illusion. They’re not really there at all.
devotion to these devices and a supernatural connection to
them, so I’m playing with these ideas of the digital mixed
ANDREA: How did you gravitate towards digital art?
with all this American history, frontier stuff. I’m not the kind
What about it provides a larger playground for your
of artist that sits down and has a definite concept; every pic-
expression?
ture is a new thing where I’m just letting things happen.
SHAMUS: I started out as a painter, then I got really fasANDREA: Would you link your work to science in any way?
cinated with Photoshop in college over twenty years ago.
I kept painting for a long time, but I slowly gravitated to-
SHAMUS: I think it’s less science and more…
wards this digital tool because it allowed me to get away
from the physical. I went from painting on canvas to paint-
ANDREA: Technology?
ing directly in Photoshop. In the early 2000s, I started producing images in 3D rendering programs that were start-
SHAMUS: There’s a quote by Arthur C. Clarke saying:
ing to look very realistic – it took this flat surface of the
“Magic is just science that we don’t understand yet.” I’m
digital painting to an extra dimension. The 3D stuff was the
not obsessed with the technology, I’m more interested in
next logical step from there. I just taught myself everything
the idea of building something in this 3D world that has
I could and that’s where I ended up, but it all comes back to
no physical presence – it’s just data that has very compli-
that idea of wanting to distance myself from the physical.
cated technical reasons for being the way it is. Underlying that, as a bigger picture, is that idea of working in
ANDREA: A lot of popular digital, mostly Internet art, ex-
this nonexistent space.
ists in the realm of the uncanny valley or is glitch art, while
your work is hyper realistic. What about this sense of real-
ANDREA: What would you like the audience to come
istic finesse is appealing to you and the goals of your work?
away with? Do you care about what people think? What
are you trying to provoke?
SHAMUS: That’s a really good question. There’s more
and more digital work out there and a lot of younger
SHAMUS: I want people to understand how the things
artists doing all kinds of different work. I don’t dismiss
are made, when I tell them that this is, for instance, a 3D
the glitch stuff at all, but what I find interesting is this
rendering. With any new medium, that’s something you
space in between the very real and the very unreal. With
always struggle with. It’s just a matter of people becom-
a 3D rendering, the space and the forms are very real, yet
ing familiar with the digital tools, but you have to know
there’s something clearly off about it. That’s the space,
that to fully grasp it. At the same time, I want it to be
visually and perceptually, that I’m really interested in. I
Shamus Clisset. Bambaataa in the Desert (Mirage Version), 2015.
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