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CNN Live At Daybreak

New Art Fleshed Out in Hong Kong

Aired March 25, 2002 - 06:56   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to wind up DAYBREAK with a report from Hong Kong on a new art form. Our Kristie Lu Stout says it's a high-tech blend of painters and computers that's raising abstract art to whole new levels.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the brief history of modern art, the paintbrush has been replaced by a mixed media collage. The silk screen, even naked models covered in blue paint. Tools of the trade do for a digital upgrade. Enter the Body- Brush, an interface that maps the movements of an artist in a three- dimensional space, translating the action into art.

YOUNG HAY, ARTIST: This interface treats the body as a brush. So traditionally we just rely on the hands to use the tool to apply paint onto the canvas. But in this interface, we can treat the whole body as a whole, as a dynamic brush.

STOUT: Hong Kong artist Young Hay developed the Body-Brush with a computer science professor, Horace Ip of Hong Kong City University. Together, they learned how to capture movement with infrared illumination censors which interact with advanced motion analysis software. A high-tech approach to abstract art.

(on camera): So an artist enters the Body-Brush room...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

STOUT: ... and they want to create an image, let's say a wide stroke in the color green. How do they do it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, if you see on the floor, there is the color palette what we call. This corner red, that corner is yellow and so on. So to pick the color, he want to draw the brush is depending on where he entered this three-dimensional canvas space. So he control what color he or she want to pick from the brush stroke.

STOUT: So you enter from that corner here, pick up red and you...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pick up the red and come in and do your body movement and out come the color stroke in red. STOUT (voice-over): The effect: vibrant splashes of color inspired by the American abstract expressionist, Jackson Pollock and his action painting; a technique used to reflect the physical energy of the painter. That may help sell the Body-Brush to the art community.

HAY: Obviously, when they use the machine, a lot of them are reluctant to use the machine. Actually, you know, they think the machine is cold and inhuman. But with the body -- I mean, by using the body to interact with the machine, it can really create that kind of new relationship with the machine.

STOUT: A machine that may inspire new strokes of genius.

Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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