The initially crazy idea of digitally re-making (in 2021, during the pandemic confinement) my cover image of 1981 The Lost Jockey release turned into a fascinating exercise - a meditation on how technology changes everything! each line is now infinitely controllable, (re)positioned with total precision, designated to its own layer and - on top of it - resolution-independent = it can be scaled up and down to any size.
was anything lost ? yes, about 37 hours.
but that time is easily recovered, as this intricate image is now a rich source of raw material for other DCs, just as in today's music - sampling, mixing and re-mixing.
however,
there is something more subtle...
the original collage was made by hand, decisions were made within physical limits of the materials, light conditions, mood, thought process... it would never be drawn like this by a robot !
the new image is something quite different - an abstract construction that can be indefinitely modified and improved - and, indeed, that is what i am doing - now released as a ›Versioned Edition, each print of that image is a new version, slightly different, hopefully slightly improved, slowly drifting, like us - the Humans, away from its original physical origin.