Panospheres
I began painting on spheres as a means of seeing outside and beyond the limits of the traditional picture field. A panosphere has no frame, no fixed point of view, and offers the viewer a continuous, fluid perspective. Unlike Cubist paintings, which break up the world into multiple points of view, panosphere paintings de-fragment, reassemble and merge perceptions into a unified field of vision.
My first 360 degree panospheric painting was an 8 inch version of a larger landscape on canvas, Mist in the Valley, Mountain in the Distance. While working at ILM I had in fact painted on spheres for E.T. and StarWars to make planet models. But painting on a sphere to capture a 360 degree view that wrapped around me was something utterly new, and quite exciting.
Five Views of: Mist in the Valley, Mountain in the Distance Panosphere, 1999, Acrylic on plexiglas sphere, 8 inch diameter
I received much encouragement in my exploration of 360 degree painting by my friend Theron O’Connor. I painted a panospheric landscape using photographs taken from the top of of his tile roofed house.
Theron’s Panosphere, 2000, Acrylic on plexiglas sphere, 8 “ diameter.
