Beyond Representation in Virtual Reality: The Abstract Art of Jane LaFarge Hamill and Kevin Mack

Abstract

Where VR is largely associated with a dependency of realist imagery, the award-winning visual effects professional, Kevin Mack and oil painter Jane Hamill use VR to produce abstract works. Abstract art and early abstract film reveal the importance of such experimentation to each medium's latent potential and how those early oddities, in due course, enter the mainstream. I examine Mack and Hamill's respective works to propose that experimenting with abstraction in virtual reality is crucial to its unfolding as a creative medium.

Spatial Display Model of Oil Painting Art Based on Digital Vision Design

“…The analysis focused on how students convey the same story in written, oral, and virtual painting modes, tracking key themes in students' virtual experiences [16]. Scholar Kent examined the works of McNeill and Hamill, emphasizing the importance of conducting abstract experiments in virtual reality as a creative medium [17]. Scholar van der Veen M approached the intersection of two visual modes from an augmented reality perspective.…”