XM1014 triptych

Previously exhibited at: 'SHIFTS' - Environmental art group exhibition. / 05.09.-26.10.2025 Riga contemporary art space 1. XM1014 triptych_albedo 2. XM1014 triptych_roughness 3. XM1014 triptych_normal A series in which the digital textures of weapons from Counter-Strike 2 are transformed into oil paintings. The process unfolds between two incompatible languages — the embodied materiality of oil painting and the encoded logic of game graphics. This transition shows how digital objects are constructed, broken apart, and reassembled, as well as what changes occur in translation. Each painting corresponds to one of the technical files in the game engine that defines the object's appearance: the albedo map sets the surface color, the normal map creates an added illusion of depth, and the roughness map controls the reflection of light. Projected alongside the paintings, the in-game model reassembles these fragments into a seamless illusion, exposing the differences between how an object exists physically, digitally, and perceptually. The project stems from the observation that today texture-making takes place almost entirely within digital environments. By shifting this process into painting, it unsettles the established order and opens up the possibility of a material, tactile approach within a medium that is usually perceived as purely virtual.