Jochem Hendricks
Name:Jochem Hendricks
Sample of Work: Eye Drawings
Birthplace: Schluchtern (DE)
Present residence: Frankfurt/Main, Germany
Age: 46 (born 1959)
Cultural background: German
Focus of work: varied.
Both Hendricks and Neidich have more than a passing interest in science, and it comes across in there work. In Eye Drawings (1994), Hendricks puts technology to use for tracking the actual patterns of eye movement while doing various activities (i.e.looking at a newspaper or reading a billing statement). The data is then used to produce a series of line drawings.
In 2000, Hendricks exhibited an interactive version of his eye movement work at Hanover's Expo 2000. The Active Eye Tracker "has been conceived to let a wide audience experience their own sight. And connected with this experience is the awareness of employing machines by means of using ones eyes," reads Hendrick's website. The viewer/operator sits before a computer with eye-readers. Actions are indicated by focusing the eyes for 2 seconds on a command icon seen on the monitor. Viewers are challenged to "draw" a circle with their eye movements. At the end of the interactive session, participants are given a printout "drawing" of their eye activity.
Other works by the artist continue to transform the seemingly mundane into art pieces. And sometimes to an arguable extreme. For example, in a work entitled "Cold Birds," Hendricks works along with a team of scientists in having the bodies of various deceased birds transformd into man-made diamonds. He takes this one step further (no pun intended) in "Left Defender Right Leg," receiving permission from an amputated soccar player to transform the removed leg into a diamond also. Beautiful tributes or only disturbing?
Education:
Recipient of Frankfurt Artist Aid Scholarship (1988)
Recipient of the City of Nuremberg Scholarship for Drawing (1990)
Henrdick's work is currently on exhibit in Rundlederwelten ("Round leather worlds") Show at Martin-Gropius-Bau Gallery - Berlin, Germany (Oct 10, 2005 - January 8, 2006).
More about the work of Jochem Hendricks can be found at the artist's website and at www.artfacts.com.