This site was born of an observation: to date, there is no space dedicated to 3D art.
While artists are racking up millions of views on their projects, and the field of expression has become widespread, there are no galleries, no books and no magazines on this art form. Most publications focus on the technical rather than the artistic. To break out of this “entre-soi”, artists have turned to social networking, which has given them a much wider audience. The downside of this approach is the dilution of the specificity of 3D art, which thus becomes a mere component of “digital art”. Added to the multiplication of images generated by artificial intelligence, there's an urgent need to show what 3D art is, who makes it and why.
And the question is central. What is 3D art? Is it simply a tool? Are there convergences between artists? Do we take into account still and moving images, real-time installations and interactive works? How can we separate the commercial from the artistic, and does the distinction make sense? Isn't 3D art simply illustration or sculpture transposed into another medium? 3D art may seem easy to define at first glance, but it's hard to pin down: there are a multitude of practices and approaches, implemented by a host of individuals isolated in space. Difficult to define, it's almost impossible to know where its contours and limits lie.
And yet, 3D art does exist. Artists communicate with each other, recognizing theirs peers even if they don't share the same tools or styles. There's a 3D scene, full of movements and trends. All this cultural and artistic life is dispersed in forums, comments on social networks and informal conversations on the outskirts of rare events. Nothing remains of it, and it's difficult to understand the works produced just a few years ago without being a part of this scene. Reflect/Refract is a response to this programmed oblivion. To share what's important, to hear what the artists have to say, to place the works in an artistic rather than a technical context. If 3D art exists, then it must have its own space for reflection and discussion.
As an artist, I hesitated for a long time before setting up this project. I would have preferred it to have been carried by people other than myself, more competent than I am. But given the situation, I feel it's necessary to take a first step in the right direction. It's time to federate the works and show what brings them together, and why. It's time to show the artists' work, no longer as mere technical prowess, but as a true artistic reflection, multifaceted, complex, contradictory, but united by the same approach to the 3D tool. My aim is to make this a gateway, from the artists to a public interested in their approach and keen to learn more, as well as to art critics and gallery owners wishing to find out more about 3D art.
Olivier Caron
Reflect
(of a surface or body) throw back (heat, light, or sound) without absorbing it.
think deeply or carefully about.
Refract
to change the direction of light, sound, heat, or other energy as it travels across or through something