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Finding Aid for The Journey from Zero to Infinity works of art
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Title: The Journey from Zero to Infinity works of art
Collection number: 0300
Contributing Institution:
USC Libraries Special Collections
Language of Material:
English
Container: 1-10
Physical Description:
3.0 Linear feet
Date: 2009
Abstract: In the fall of 2009, USC's Doheny Memorial Library held an exhibition of twenty framed works of art created by Victor Raphael
and Clayton Spada, the artists being inspired by rare works from USC Libraries' Special Collections. When the exhibition was
over, ten of the pieces were retained by the USC Fisher Museum of Art; the remaining ten became part of USC Libraries' Special
Collections.
creator:
Raphael, Victor, 1950-
creator:
Spada, Clayton
Collection was purchased from the artists.
The following works of art were part of the exhibition
The Journey from Zero to Infinity but are part of the USC Fisher Museum of Art rather than Doheny's Special Collections:
Bubble Chamber
By Design
Eliptic Plane
Genesis
Meditations
Odyssey
Pioneer Greeting
Solar Currents
Space-Time
Spiral Nebula
The collection consists of ten works of art by Victor Raphael and Clayton Spada, displayed in the "From Zero to Infinity:
The Story of Everything", USC Libraries, September 3-December 13, 2009. The remaining ten works of art from the exhibition
were sent to the USC Fisher Museum of Art at the conclusion of the show.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from special collections must be submitted in writing to the Manuscripts Librarian.
Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended
to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Advance notice required for access.
In 2009, USC's Doheny Memorial Library held an exhibition which examined he idea of telling "the story of everything." The
twenty artworks on display were the result of hundreds of hours of philosophical dialogue and artistic collaboration between
Victor Raphael and Clayton Spada. Their primary focus was understanding how individuals make sense of their roles within the
vast structure of the cosmos. Following intellectual wanderers who have traced similar threads in a limitless web of knowledge,
they investigated fields as diverse as astronomy, religion, mythology and alchemy for visual inspiration.
They began by establishing a philosophical framework for their creative process, determining which areas of thought warranted
further exploration. This body of ideas guided them as they started gathering a reservoir of visual imagery for their digital
compositions, incorporating elements from woodcuts, engravings, etchings, and lithographs. They discovered many of the visual
elements in the "From Zero to Infinity" series in rare works from the USC Libraries' Special Collections.
As they created their artworks, Raphael and Spada sent many digital files back and forth between their studios. Raphael initiated
the process by using a Polaroid camera to create an abstract image and applying metal leaf onto its surface. After scanning
the altered Polaroid, he then sent the file to Spada, who used Adobe Photoshop to modify it and layer other visual elements
on top of it. He then sent the image back to Raphael for further tinkering. The artists spent up to years on some of their
pieces before they were satisfied, and the printing process couuld begin. Through it all, Raphael and Spada shared a common
conceptual framework that guided their dynamic artistic collaborations.
Their composition "Problema X" offers a window into their creative process. Beginning with an image that resembles a side
view of a spherical, dust-clouded galaxy, they added visual elements from a sixteenth-century Spanish astronomical treatise
by Juan Perez de Moya and a work on probability by the seventeenth-century Swiss mathematician Jakob Bernoulli. In the center
they included a striking image from a German test about Hindu cosmology, showing giant creatures supporting the entirety of
existence on their backs. The combination of elements explores the underlying structure of the universe while asking questions
about how much we can really know about it. Although we want to find regularity and order in what we observe, how reliable
can our perceptions be?
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Raphael, Victor, 1950- -- Exhibitions
Spada, Clayton -- Exhibitions
USC Fisher Museum of Art. -- Archives
Cosmology in art--Exhibitions--Archival resources
Cosmos--Pictorial works
Digital prints
Works of art