Encounter AR (augmented reality)

Limited Edition. This license is for personal use only.

Edition of 25.

Encounter is a 26 ft. long virtual sculpture that was assembled from scanned car parts in L.A. body shops, and suited figures in David's Santa Monica studio. Constructing the piece at life-scale required detailed photogrammetry, stitching sections, and digital painting, using different scans over a two month period.

Borrowing from the limb confusion in Rodin’s Kiss, David discovered that by adding another head, he could create two distinct views from opposite sides of the sculpture: one side showing a male figure embracing himself, the other side revealing a woman embracing a male figure.

Reflective spheres (which mirror the viewing environment), and spinning glass shards, were applied separately, and formally integrated into the sculpture. With all parts incorporated, and the slowed audio composition of a car crash added, the piece was then tested, and scaled to different exhibition sizes, using the Hoverlay App.

A site-specific version of the work appearing at MOCA London in September 2024, uses the walls of the gallery to intersect with the sculpture. This allows a section of the work to extend beyond the gallery interior, and to be viewed by visitors as they walk around the building.

"I was interested in making a large scale object which had mass but no weight. The collision allows me to explore that idea, and for the viewer to explore that conflicted state themselves — creating their own path through the sculpture using the phone."

"I don’t feel the subject is violent at all, or about death, but many of us are struck by our encounter with reality — and each other — and that’s really the experience I want to replicate, so that I can understand it better.”

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