LONDON.- Stone Souls explores the psychological phenomenon of pareidolia—the perception of a visual or auditory pattern where there is none. Often associated with religious or intellectual epiphany, pareidolia is credited with helping ancient civilizations to negotiate an unintelligible world through the interpretation of signs where there was merely chaos. We have since become predisposed to interpret abstract shapes and formations and to conclude stories from their fragmented clues – something that artistic movements such as Cubism and Abstraction understood implicitly.

For Fink, the phenomenon has become uniquely associated with his practice, which is intensely process-oriented. His work evokes the discovery of familiar shapes and renderings by viewers - even where none were originally intended by the artist. Fink draws on variations found in the diverse ecological and cultural systems he experiences when he travels. He sees faces in decay, in nature, in the developed and the natural - finding shapes reminiscent of physical structures, he photographs them. Fink reproduces these images onto the purest, white marble from the quarries of Thassos in Greece. The marble, a relic of times past, is drawn into the present and the figurative marks become interlaced with the annals of history.

The series is also an investigation into way artists ‘see’ - drawing, the fundamental principle behind most artists' practices, which has never been fully understood.

Stone Souls will also be accompanied by a week-long early evening performance of Fink’s ‘Drawing with My Eyes’. Staged on the ground floor of Riflemaker, the artist will utilise cutting-edge technology to explore new creative expressions.

Fink will 'draw' live, using neither hand nor any instrument, other than his eyes – the process involves customised eye-tracking software to transform his gaze into a solid medium. Through the support of software, the artist has developed in conjunction with Tobii Technology in China, his eyes will trace directly onto the screen, the direction of his own retinal movements allowing him to map compositions - slowly taking on the characteristics of intricate portraits. The groundbreaking technology involves shining an infra-red light straight into the eyes of the subject - the reflections are then recorded by a camera via multi-algorithms and filters, allowing eye movements to be transferred on screen.

The exhibition and performance is a continuation of Fink’s oeuvre as an artist. Represented by Riflemaker in London, his practice involves photography, film, painting and drawing and centres around ideas of the subconscious and creativity. Stone Souls follows on from Fink’s 2016 exhibition Ballads of Shanghai, a photographic survey of Shanghai’s rapidly changing landscape.