Operation Plumbbob-Boltzmann

W: 58" D: 1" H: 40"

Acrylic and Pigment ink on Canvas

2020

Entitled "Operation Plumbbob-Boltzmann" this painting by Chicago-based artist Jan Pieter Fokkens offers a representation of an atomic test that took place at the Nevada Test Site in 1955. It portrays a delegation of NATO officials, all wearing protective goggles, observing the detonation of a nuclear bomb.

Inspired by de-classified images of nuclear tests, contemporary computer compression algorithms and early non-representational art, Fokkens recreates images that exist at the verge of our imagination. Done completely by hand, each work is created with the use of custom algorithms that extract qualities such as pattern, form and color. Fokkens then draws these abstracted qualities with repetitive marks on canvas. The result is a reductionist, analogue interpretation of an unimaginable reality.