Post-digital: humanism for the technological age. Problem solving has never been more beautiful. To Sarah Teasedale, this is the new normal. In her art, she seeks the experiences that engage the senses, painting the digital age as it exists in our reality.
The post-digital world cultivates balance, beauty, and depth. Our souls reach out to this new world, eager to interact with its intricate balance of digital and natural. We must let ourselves feel this eagerness intentionally; we are at the cusp of a new digital revolution. Through her art, Sarah engages the viewer by creating breathtaking designs that combine nature and technology. With the beauty of ancient textiles, Sarah showcases how art and technology influence one another in a world full of digital advancements.
The unexplored depths of this new world are an essential part of Sarah’s art. Her piece titled Radiant Woods encapsulates what it means to bring the past into the future. Although, this piece is unique in that aspect, the rest of her collection matches Radiant Woods’s beauty. Looking at her art is an immersive experience, showing the viewer what the future may look like. In this way, her art is a tool for the progress of humanity’s understanding of the world.
Information overload defines the digital era; we are infinitely connected to the world around us. Our digital era places our focus on physical technology. As we approach the frontier of the post-digital, the return to nature emphasizes how human experiences will return to the physical world rather than the digital one. In today’s society, constant bombardment of information may overwhelm us, but this is our world. We are at the point where reality reaches the physical and the virtual. Carbon and silicon are in equilibrium. To see Sarah’s work is to experience this overlap. Creating acrylic paintings that bring together the technological and the human, she pushes the boundaries of the world as we know it. Her work transforms our view of the world, opening our minds to the possibilities of an augmented age. The digital and the natural are one, meshing together in ways our brains cannot yet comprehend. Voice and gesture replace touch and type. Calculations based on digital algorithms advise us on love, health, and finances. Our world is not as we knew it.
Enhancement of our senses through cyber replacement determines our normal. Through her art, Sarah portrays how our consciousness exists outside the physical body—to be physical is to be outdated. There will come a time when our perception of the digital world becomes ubiquitous. We will no longer gaze in awe at the reaches of technology. Instead, we will learn to see it as normal. Only when this age has completely uprooted our way of living will we truly see the scope of the post-digital.
Sarah’s art challenges our perception of reality, bringing that future to our present. Her work defines our understanding of technological progress. It isn’t until technology impacts our lives directly that we will begin to understand the changes in the world around us. With every brushstroke, Sarah brings the future to our present, urging us to connect with the world we live in as if we looked each moment through the lens of the digital.
In one of her latest works, Radiant Woods, Sarah treats a cityscape like a post-digital playground. Her use of muted colors in the background brings forward the natural pigments in the foreground; each color palette represents the age it represents. The neutrality of the cityscape perfectly captures humanities new found indifference towards technology, while the lush green forest in the foreground represents the unconquered world of technology yet to come. Above all, the shimmering pigments in either opposite corners of the piece—one gold, one shimmering blue—lets the viewer know these opposing forces can live in harmony. Both the past and future shine brightly in the light of humanity’s understanding.
The inclusion of meticulous patterns similar to those in textiles collides with the pixelated appearance of the shimmering pigments and the grassy forest. The green wave floating through the sky, connecting the natural and the technological, reminds us of the constant merging our world experiences. It’s as if the green of the forest blows into the digital realm, bringing our reality into that of the future. A circular object made from muted purple specks of paint hovers over the digital world, letting us imagine what a world in the fourth dimension might look like.
Her work marks the transition from an era of technology and humanity working side by side to one where they are intertwined. In a world full of chaos, her work aims to quiet the noise, allowing our minds to revel in the changes of this new age.
More info: sarah-teasdale.com
Magical Forest
Radiant Woods
