Marcus West Retrospective

Marcus West traces his digital practice from university electronic music facilities and early computer graphics to contemporary geometric image making. Oscilloscope experiments translate numerical coordinates into luminous structures, while Fortran programs, graphics terminals and pen plotters produce line drawings whose precision also reveals mechanical irregularities. Spirals, tessellations and interacting straight lines generate optical complexity from economical rules. A later encounter with Bridget Riley’s paintings renews his interest in clarity, detail and colour, prompting a virtual canvas approach in which programs assign red, green and blue values directly to individual pixels. Rather than write a new program for every work, West develops reusable families controlled by parameters. Recursive rectangle subdivisions, mandalas, rhombus arrangements and Fibonacci constructions demonstrate how small procedural changes produce distinct visual effects. He explains the golden angle and shows how connecting regularly spaced elements reveals interwoven spirals, relating these structures to patterns in plants. His methods gradually expand beyond Pascal to Photoshop and other image software, allowing shadows, fringes, layering and simulated illumination. He also identifies a recurring attraction to light glimpsed through barriers, connecting visual motifs with personal experience. Humorous individual works, optical illusions and a patterned bowl broaden the survey beyond systematic series and flat prints.

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