Drew Browning is an Associate Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago in the School of Art and Design with an MFA degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has been teaching in the Electronic Visualization and Industrial Design programs since 1976 and is the founder and Director of the Design Visualization Laboratory. Browning has produced numerous video and computer graphic art works and has exhibited internationally. He has authored papers in electronic visualization and design and given lectures on these subjects at various conferences and professional meetings. He has received art and design research grants from agencies such as the Illinois Arts Council, National Endowment for the Arts, Veterans Administration and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications. His current research involves art and design work in virtual reality and interactive digital media.

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

My work has always dealt with body and self-image: how our incarnation as physical beings shapes our possibilities and limitations, what our own relationship is with our bodies, how others see us, and how we culturally define the meaning of human. Some of my earliest pieces were sculptures of my mouth and hand and abstractions of the body in tension. Later works in sculpture, photography and video focused on manipulation of the body through technological processes by using intersections of body parts to create new organic forms. A more recent work, Me In Pieces, uses 3D interactive computer graphics to fragment an image of my face into individual polygons. When viewed from a unique point of view, the fragments organize to form my face.

A similar technique, using navigation in a virtual environment to emphasize the importance of point-of-view, was used in my VR work, Disability Perspective #1. In this work I use the controversy around the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial to explore issues of disability identity. In the memorial, which at the time was not yet built, no representation of the president acknowledged his use of a wheelchair. A fragmented computer model of the statue has images (with corresponding sounds) of FDR and disability rights activists mapped onto the individual polygons, juxtaposing his hidden identity with disability pride and disability rights.

Adopting a disability identity was a critical moment in my personal development, and when I look at issues in the disability community I see that identity is fundamental to those issues. In Disability Perspective #2 (The Trinity), a work in progress, I study the relationship of three highly debated issues in disability culture: telethons, euthanasia and "cure not care". This allegorical tale uses three characters representing: a telethon "Master of Ceremonies", a medical doctor supporting assisted suicide, and a person with disability that feels there is no life without cure (or no living with disability). The Disabled Rights movement foregrounds issues which challenge our notions of the disabled as whole people, and this work forces us to consider point of view as a factor in how we have historically understood and represented disability.

Point of view as a way to communicate attitude and state of mind is also central to the Virtual Reality work HOME. Home is universal. It affects everyone and every aspect of our lives from birth to death. It is where we eat, sleep, socialize, work and play. It nurtures our development and sustains our existence. It defines who we are. Of all the rooms that are the soul containers within a home, the bathroom is where I most find solitude and reflection. It is a contemplative environment that evokes memories and ponderings. My bathroom in HOME encourages the visitor to discover the memories and contemplations embedded in that space.

My work is centrally about creating dialog about the issues of difference, about using the power of technology to challenge viewer perspective, about calling attention to what makes us human, and the human condition.