Notes

As a cartographer of the invisible, Richard Penn re-images scientific data collected from space and sound waves. In Partition he has magnified data taken from space by telescopes with multiple lenses, like the Kepler Space Telescope. The resulting images are comprised of interconnected irregular shapes, such as hexagons and rhombuses. His drawings imitate these knitted shapes and the impossibly small and detailed objects within. Penn questions how we measure and partition data and how this is expressed visually.

Penn earned his Masters Degree in Fine Arts from Wits University. He won the overall prize in The Sasol New Signatures Art Competition in 2004. He taught animation at Wits University and served as the Head of Animation, and later Vice-Principal of the Learning Department at AFDA Johannesburg (The South African School for Motion Picture Medium and Live Performance). Additionally, Penn co-animated and co-directed 2 short films with Mocke J van Veuren, and has directed and animated 3 short films of his own. In 2010, he started Strange Blue Duck, an animation training company.

Provenance

Donated by the artist