Polygonal 14 (2009) Digital Arts by Richard Horvath

Bendigo with its fine gold rush financed Greco-Victorian monuments provide the landscape used as a backdrop for mobile phone wielding twenty somethings. Because of the liberties taken, the citizens of that city may be nonplussed by details such as replacing a digger statue with the softly glowing Athena, stripping the octagonal tower of its unsympathetic attachments and replacing the dull stained wood park benches with the gaudily coloured 1950's variety. It's a wanton and pleasurable Hollywood style improvement on reality seen from a worms eye view.

The muted European style lighting is not achieved by the usual method of inserting lights into the scene but by the use of an HDRI (High Dynamic Range Image) panorama that supplies not only the park like environment and sky but also the lighting cues. In keeping with the mood of the piece the HDRI image used is of an Austrian palace in its stately garden. Similarly, the Lombardy poplars and the young female in the foreground had their geneses on the internet. The generosity of people who have made these resources freely available means that this work has as many bricolage as bespoke ingredients.

Related themes

Richard HorvathDigital Prints3D ModellingUrban Landscapes