Digital artist Sean Capone considers the unique relationship between urban and technological space, depicting sweeping networks of time, exuberant form and polyrhythmic color in his work "Grand Central Complication." The title references a “grand complication,” which describes a highly intricate style of wristwatch engineered with various timekeeping features. In this energetic five-screen panoramic animation, the artist imagines the station concourse itself as a vast clockwork device, albeit one powered by blossoming biomorphic forms rather than mechanical systems and transit schedules. Created using algorithmic 3D and digital simulation software, Capone’s project calls to mind the visual art histories of modernist geometric abstraction and the aesthetics of maximalist neo-baroque excess. 

Visually, the work is suffused with sensuous curves and patterns reminiscent of decorative arabesques, concentric striations and blossoming flowers; these organic, psychedelic forms are contrasted with more angular motifs such as architectural skylines, churning gears, radial sunbursts, and flickering slashes of neon. Each element expresses its own unique register of time and motion; combined, these forces evoke a vibrant impression of the perpetual flux and pulsing energy of the city that never sleeps.

The work is presented by MTA Arts & Design with technical support from ANC Sports.
 

Sean Capone (b. Rochester NY) is a Brooklyn-based artist working in video and digital animation. He received his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he studied new media and time-based art, and he is the recipient of a 2020 NYFA/NYSCA Digital Art Fellowship grant. Over the past 30 years, Sean’s work in the animation field has spanned a wide variety of projects for film & television, music videos, stage & live events, and experiential installation. His award-winning works and “projection murals” have appeared in numerous galleries, museums, festivals, and public art environments worldwide. “As a media artist, I am particularly devoted to the principle of animation as an artform, and to presenting it in the context of public art. By engaging audiences directly in the flow of urban space using architectural screens and projections, my goal is to temporarily disrupt the ceaseless stream of commercialized media and help activate the public’s role as social participants in the cultural and spiritual life of the city, rather than as mere consumers of information.”