"Study for SWEEPS" by Jan Pieter Fokkens

The colorful paintings of Jan Pieter Fokkens transport us to distant worlds beyond our comprehension. Within seemingly infinite networks of lines, dots, and crosses, he decodes the recognizable to create something unfamiliar.

Each work begins with a colorized photo captured by a deep-space telescope. With the aid of custom algorithms, Fokkens manipulates the “fake pixels” of these images, isolating qualities of pattern and color. He then hand-draws these abstracted qualities in his unique pointillist style, reconstructing the sense of longing and wonder one feels when they look out at the stars.

Entitled "Study for SWEEPS," this work offers a representation of the Sagittarius Window Eclipsing Extrasolar Planet Search, Hubble’s seven-day-long survey of 180,000 stars in order to detect extrasolar planets.

Pigment ink on canvas. Framed.