TANMAY BANERJEE

ARTIST & RESEARCHER INREV Univ Paris VIII

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Un Voyage dans l’Espace (Extra) Terrestre 

(A work in progress)

50cm (w) x 65cm (h)

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‘La Reprise — Roman Opalka’ from “Detail-001, 1–32062” to “Detail-256, 5594934–5607249.” Each of the Details are run in a looped animation, perpetually oscillating between black and white.

“La Reprise, Roman Opalka” belongs to a series of digital creations, titled as: “La Reprise” or ‘Remake’ with the idea of digitally recreating or reproducing the visual form that reveals a certain aspect of regenerating the process used by few famous artists on their iconic artwork.


“La Reprise - Roman Opalka, 1-5607249 & from black - white” is a digital recreation or reproduction of Roman Opalka’s lifetime work called, 1-∞ 1965. A series of 256 images called ‘Details’ presenting an increment of generated numbers ranging from 1 to 5697249. Each Detail here has a format of 196cm (h) x 135cm (w) - exactly as Opalk’s original work - using a white font in size 10, however each ‘Detail’ has a unique background colour, starting from Detail-001 in dark black (R=0, G=0, B=0; #000000) and culminating on a pure white background colour, as seen in Detail-255 (R=255, G=255, B=255; #ffffff). 


As observed through the series of images, the passage from a very contrasting and legible image (revealing white numbers embedded in a deep black background), towards a fading and illegible white on white situation, reveals an act of disappearance. This progressive degradation of the background colour shows a finite range of 256 possible grey tone values that can be obtained in an 8-bit RGB image, whilst also evoking Opalka’s attempt to achieve a ‘numerical infinity’ and a visual transcendence achieved by fading to white. 


Here, the primary difference from Opalka’s work, is that the sequence of numbers is generated through a computational process replacing the organic manual process used by Opalka, attempting literally to count till infinity and spending nearly a lifetime doing so. 
Since it is computationally possible to generate extremely lengthy numbers in an extremely short duration of time (within seconds) - as opposed to Opalka’s manual process that took him over 45 years), the idea is to eliminate the notion of “time” hence also eliminating the numerous variations that reveal themselves as a byproduct of “time” that are very much relevant and fundamental to Opalka’s organic process. In stark contrast to that of that, this series of images reveal a perfectly linear degradation of the background colour that is visually represented in a ‘digitally dry’ environment and quantified through computation and reduced to a finite framework of what was an infinitely complex process that manifested through a lifetime of work, in Opalka’s 1-∞.

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Dennis Oppenheim “A Feedback Situation” 1971 © Dennis Oppenheim

A Repetitive Feed-in & Feed-out Situation 2016

A Series of Line Drawings 50cm (w) x 65cm (h)

Performed at: « La Cabane » as a participative art Université Paris VIII, France

‘A Repetitive Feed-in & Feed-out Situation’ is a prototype experimental performance, directly in reference to the performance of Dennis Oppenheim along with his son Erik called ‘A Feedback Situation’ 1971. 

As the images suggest, in this performance the key idea is to use a simple line drawing to reveal the functioning of the human body’s sensory perception. By repeating this performance over and over again the process becomes a method of appropriation and verification; whether or not the human body is capable of learning, adapting - using a method of automation and self-organisation - how to reproduce the line in an accurate way. Hence, the abstract line drawing on paper is a visual trace of the complex functioning of the human sensory perception.   

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The image seen above is an imaginary representation & recreation of a scene in reference to the performance done by Richard Long called “A Line made by Walking” (1967). This image represents the ending point of my video installation, but is actually an digital recreation of the starting point of Richard Long’s performance.  

“La Reprise, Imagine Richard Long Un-Walking for 15’” belongs to a series of digital artwork, titled “La Reprise”. The idea of ‘reprise’ or ‘remake’ is to recreate or regenerate the process used by some of the famous Artists on their iconic artworks through a number of digital manipulation, transforming progressively the appearance of the image while keeping a visual resemblance to the original artwork.

This is a digital artwork in the form of a video installation which is based on recreating in reverse a performance done by Richard Long called “A Line Made by Walking”. As the title of my work suggests, the idea is to let the viewers imagine a person walking in reverse and in the process undo or erase the act of tracing/drawing a line by walking.   

The irony of the project lies in the manipulation of the video timeline, as the time advances, a digital manipulation of the surface takes place, revealing a complete reversal of the process of drawing and taking us to an imaginary and fictive recreation of the environment prior to Richard Long’s performance. 

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“La Reprise, Gerhard Richter” belongs to a series of digital recreation titled “La Reprise”. The idea of ‘reprise’ or ‘remake’ is to recreate, or regenerate the physical or manual process used by some of the famous Artists on their iconic artworks, through a number of digital manipulations, transforming the state of the image through motion and reinterpreting the process as a digital phenomenon while attempting to keep a visual resemblance to their respective work.

In this particular work “Recreate, Gerhard Richter 1 & 2” the idea is to reproduce a digital painting, resembling visually to that of a Gerhard Richter painting. 

The image (e) is composed out a series of photographs stitched together using Adobe Photoshop into a very long format image, which is then manipulated digitally by applying a manually controlled smudge effect from right to left, as seen on the image (f). 

In the 1st project, the long format of the images allows them to be panned from left to right passing through an invisible filter where one image transforms seamlessly into the other introducing a surface distortion through movement and motion, in order to alter the surface or the state of a painting. A technique used by Gerhard Richter himself as a physical movement or action of scraping/smudging to alter the state of his paintings. 

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“La Reprise, Gerhard Richter” belongs to a series of digital recreation titled “La Reprise”. The idea of ‘reprise’ or ‘remake’ is to recreate, or regenerate the physical or manual process used by some of the famous Artists on their iconic artworks, through a number of digital manipulations, transforming the state of the image through motion and reinterpreting the process as a digital phenomenon while attempting to keep a visual resemblance to their respective work.

In this particular work “Recreate, Gerhard Richter 2” the idea is to reproduce a digital painting, resembling visually to that of a Gerhard Richter painting. 

The image (a) is composed out a series of photographs stitched together using Adobe Photoshop, which is then manipulated digitally by applying a manually controlled smudge effect from right to left and then from top to bottom, as seen on the images (b,c,d). 

The 2nd project uses a similar process and idea to the 1st project the primary difference being that the image here is basically static and the distortion effect is applied in motion from different directions providing perhaps a lesser notion of movement in comparison the 1st, but with a more vivid impression of an action or gesture revealing a digital transformation of a painting surface. A technique used by Gerhard Richter himself as a physical movement or action of scraping/smudging to alter the state of his paintings.  

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La Reprise, Jackson Pollock

“La Reprise, Jackson Pollock” belongs to a series of digital recreation, called “La Reprise”. The idea of ‘reprise’ or ‘remake’ is to recreate or regenerate the process used by some of the famous Artists on their iconic artworks through a number of digital manipulation while keeping a visual resemblance to their respective work.

In this particular work “Recreate, Jackson Pollock” the idea is to recreate a digital painting, resembling visually to that of a Jackson Pollock action painting. 

The first image is a photograph of a patch of paint marks found on the surface of an old wooden art table. The choice of image is simply due to its visual resemblance to a Jackson Pollock action painting, with layers of colours and textures. This image is then separated into five layers based on their colours (blue, red, yellow, white, shades of brown) see (Layers: 1,2,3,4,5). As the video installation reveals, each colour layer is seen separately​ applied one by one from left to right, reproducing the motion of a digital scanning process.

The idea of abandoning conventional and traditional methods of re-imagining a painting is a key source in being able to reinterpret the physical motion, known as “action painting” into a digital manipulation. This reinterpretation of “action painting” resembles that of a scanning process, (that converts an image into a digital signal interpreted by a computer software, allowing us to identically reproduce modify and/or manipulate it). In this video, the scanning process is shown in reverse as the video timeline advances, the five layers accumulate on each other resulting in the slow emergence of a readymade image resembling a Jackson Pollock painting.

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Inside Out 

Motion Design

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Un Voyage dans l’Espace Terrestre 

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Espace, (un exercise de neuf cases) 2013

Ink on Paper, 51 cm x 51cm, a series of 9 drawings each measuring 15cm x 15cm with a border of 1,5cm all round and between each square. 

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39 Architectural Illustration, Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris 

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Dots_Per_Inch_Series#01 (The Gradient Project)

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Dots_Per_Inch_Series#01 (The RGB Project)

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Illustrations / Print Design

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Objet de Reflexion, Sculpture 2012-13

Glass Cube 20cm (w) x 20cm (h) x 20cm (l)

The title of the project “Objet de Réflexion” is a French expression, quite literally meaning the object of thought. This reflective object is basically a sculpture, made from six mirrors stuck together to form a cube. « Objet de Réflexion» is literally the object onto which the images converging into the from all six directions, makes this object a physical and material representation of thought.

The second part of the project is an attempt at experimental Video Art. But more importantly, it is a solo performance art, carried out over four days walking across Paris carrying the glass cube or “Objet de Réflexion” on the left hand.

The filming of this process is meant to show how a single thought may manifest through multiple other sources of input, that we may or may not be aware of. As I film, the camera films only three sides of the glass cube, capturing three angles of reflexion, the other three sides of the cube goes completely unseen, uncaptured, yet in reality, they too exist and they too reflect an image. 

As I walk through the city and film, the images constantly move in and out of the glass cube, giving an idea of how our thoughts constantly pass through our brain. Just like the “Objet de Réflexion” or the glass cube, our ideas and knowledge provide us only a partial glimpse or image of a greater reality or Truth.

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Abstract Drawing, process & repetition

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CD Sleeve / Print Design for a Video Installation 

“Transparence Opacité” is an installation that reveals a painting in motion. The images/frames prepared in the first half of the project are put through in a sequence merging one into the other at a slowed down pace. The idea of slowing down drastically the sequence of frames merging into each other is to provide a visual ambiguity of watching a still or moving image. 

Conceptually the sequence of frames in a timeline reveals a theoretical perception of depth, not depth in space or volume, but an idea of depth through time. 

This video installation can produce a spiritual and meditative ambience because of its still nature, and its lengthy duration. The magical aspect of this installation comes from the altercation of our visual perception. By looking at the screen between 5 - 10 minutes no movement can be evident, but over a 30 minute period the image would have morphed completely, but the viewer would not have felt that sudden change. 

This work is indeed a painting that is visually still but put in motion through the passing of time.