Utopic Blurr is a series of digital images and accompanying screensaver narratives reflecting upon our current obsessive desires with ideal landscapes, garden design and orchestrated 'natural' environments. Referencing and informed by pre-eminent artists such as Constable, Gainsborough and the 19th century photographer Emerson, Tan utilises the formal elements from their work in the east of England, to both celebrate, question and unravel the nature of the picturesque, utopian ideals and dystopian anxieties. In Utopic Blurr, specifics to east England such as silicon fen, eroding coastlines, histories of immigration and ports of entry, international trade routes and European contact points are brought together with Tan's interests and concerns with cultural dislocations, difference and divergence. What results is the creation of 'hybrid cultural landscapes', both real, surreal, there not there, virtual and imaginary. Utopic Blurr merges the boundaries between painting, photography and digital landscaping, ultimately opening up new spaces for contemporary dreamings.
