“All of my work comes from a pursuit of sound and light, movement and change, and unpredictable effects,”
- Jack Dollhausen
Washington State artist Jack Dollhausen knows how to work with sound and light. For now almost forty years creating pieces which have both aesthetic beauty and functional wonder, a symbiosis of science and art. Creating meditative lamps which respond to a number of inputs, from audience motion, to ambient ionized radiation levels. His work focuses greatly on the synthesis of natural phenomena. Organizing electronics and circuits to reflect patterns in nature.
At first glance it difficult to categorize Dollhausen's work. Are they sculptures? drawings using wires? assemblages? It is understood Dollhausen refers to his pieces as "machines" refusing to give into the sometimes whimsical definitions within Art.
As put by Aden Ross in an interview with Dollhausen:
"Most of Jack’s pieces, like shy little nervous systems, send out signals to search for signs of life in their vicinity. When they detect it, they whisper and flicker, growl, coo and flinch in synch with their viewer. Some are programmed to react differently each time in sequences which may not repeat in a human lifetime. Trying to please us with constantly new tricks requires billions (yes, billions) of permutations and combinations. If you’re too loud or your movements are too large, they shut down. There are limits, after all, to friendship; and when familiarity becomes rudeness, they subtly introduce etiquette into aesthetics. The only way to stop them completely is to unplug them, an act akin to taking someone off life support."
Interesting Dollhausen Facts
Graduated with a double major in Math and Fine Art
Built experimental computers before the PC - Check them out
The AESTHETRON - Another reason why Jack is cool
"[Jack] flirts with radiant energy. And it flirts back."