"Orion" by Jan Pieter Fokkens

Chicago-based artist Jan Pieter Fokkens uses his work as a means of processing the incomprehensible. Navigating the relationship between algorithmic abstraction and the tangible qualities of pattern and color, Fokkens meditates on how reality is mediated by digital image. Entitled "Orion," this vibrant drawing offers a representation of the Orion Nebula, the nearest star-forming region to Earth located 1,500 light years away. Fokkens first partitions an image taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope into twelve subsections, and then extracts the average color of each coordinate. Using archival markers, he represents each average as a single line upon photo paper. The result is a reductionist account of an unimaginable sight.