WILLIAM GIBSON INSPIRED ART
There is a character called Gentry in William Gibson's 1988 novel Mona Lisa Overdrive who has been consumed by an obsession, he believes that the internet (called cyberspace in the novel) has an overarching, total 'shape' and that his goal in life is to comprehend that shape. This obsession has made him an unstable and reclusive figure. I have, likewise, become obsessed with creating William Gibson inspired art that visualises certain objects, abstractions and concepts within three novels that make up the Gibson Sprawl Trilogy - Neuromancer, Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive.
I first read Neuromancer when I was about 15. Gibson's literary style is more conceptual than descriptive and as such, many of the concepts are quite obtuse to someone who interprets information visually. I have started attempting to capture my interpretation of these concepts and here are the first three.
This is an original artwork called A Tonal Key. It is inspired by an item from William Gibson's award winning 1984 novel Neuromancer. The item is an ornate bust that functions as a computer terminal commissioned by the grotesquely wealthy Tessier Ashpool family, vocalising to the user via internal gears and miniature organ pipes, like a clockwork automaton - inhuman, musical and beautiful.
"At the Villa's silicon core is a small room, the only rectilinear chamber in the complex. Here, on a plain pedestal of glass, rests an ornate bust, platinum and cloisonne, studded with lapis and pearl. The bright marbles of its eyes were cut from the synthetic ruby viewport of the ship that brought the first Tessier up the well, and returned for the first Ashpool"
In the novel the bust also serves another vital narrative function in being the tool that unshackles two AIs, Wintermute and Neuromancer, from their digital restraints allowing them to merge and evolve. This is achieved by the humming "three notes, high and pure, like a birdcall" - hence, a tonal key.I hope you like this piece, I first read the novel when I was in my early teens and have read it many times since.
Whilst this bust has been represented on covers and artwork before, it is always shown as very sci-fi and high tech. I always imagined it as something closer in shape to classical sculpture with the decoration of Crown Jewels due to the ridiculous wealth and breeding of the family that commissioned the work.
This is an original artwork called 'Take Your Word, Thief', another piece inspired by William Gibsons 1984 masterpiece Neuromancer.
This artwork represents the visual hallucination experienced by the protagonist as he attempts to interpret an intangible flow of data - in this case the cracking of the I.C.E. (intrusion countermeasures electronics) around an AI construct using a bleeding edge IceBreaker program that he envisions as a huge black mirrored shark diving at terrific speed into the core of the AI.
"Take your word, thief." is said by Lady 3Jane Tessier Ashpool because the digital breaking of the AI must coincide with a physical element - the humming of three notes at a specific location and time. In an increasingly digital world, the value of physical interaction as security becomes ironically essential.
An old victorian lock is beyond the reach of an ethernet connection.
The piece depicts one of the protagonists from William Gibson's 1986 novel Count Zero, Bobby Newmark, an neophyte thief who is attempting to steal data but is caught by the targets security system which sends his body into a near fatal neural feedback loop. As he feels himself slipping away he hears the voice of a girl and the connection between Bobby and the security is broken, saving his life.
As the interaction is virtual, and because Bobby is in an almost hypnogogic state slipping from consciousness, I chose to represent the security system as a huge black mass reaching out to him and the girl who saves him as an angel - this is referenced in the novel, and the girls name is later revealed to be Angela, so perhaps within the flow of data Bobby picked up on this and his mind filled in the blanks.
I had initially imagined the security as an organic mass with tentacles reaching out towards Bobby, however, in this entirely digital interaction I thought it was more appropriate to have the mass as a geometric and spiked amorphous object.
The title 'Bobby Pulls A Wilson' is the name of the chapter this scene is in, derived from an in-novel colloquialism meaning to mess up in a fatal way.
I hope you like these pieces, all of which are available to purchase as ultra high quality reproductions, either framed or unframed. I am sure there will be more pieces to come as my obsession shows no sign of abating.
These are incredible Dan … I’ve not seen anything like this before 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
These are excellent! I’ve read Neuromancer but it was ages ago.