December 9, 2006

Angling

Sketch after Stephen's Iron Crown by Robert Motherwell

The drawing above represents a reworked sketch from the "Drawing From the Collection" class I led at the Ft. Worth Modern last Sunday. I had an excellent time and the students seemed to put up with my assignments.

Once I was back in my own studio I wanted to keep working on a couple of the drawings. The first drawing (above) is from Stephen's Iron Crown by Robert Motherwell. The second is after For Carl Andre by Lynda Benglis.

After looking at my reworked sketches for a while and not convincing myself of whatever it is I need to in order to feel successful, I began to see a correlation with the process I used when I started working with clay during undergrad.

Whenever I came against my lack of ability to realize a form, I tried a more aggressive approach. The image of the Altered Vase series is an example of this. After making this series of vases and feeling like they were still lacking in whatever way, I started to puncture and crumple each vase. I look back and see this as a function of frustration.

In the process of learning a skill, mistakes become a necessary part of the process. In my case, the altered vases exemplified my lack of clarity of idea, from which, I was able to see what needed to be refined. Having something physical to respond to was essential (if sometimes awkward) to working though my hand/mind's-eye coordination. This seems not to have changed much.

But having made these vases, I can still see them in most of the work I make today, like the drawing above. This leads me to the question that if I had never made this series, or instead, tried to think my way through it, would the drawing have turned out the same?

November 25, 2006

Thinking About Associations

This is a screen shot of a video I started in late summer. It has been simmering for a while as the first attempt was unsuccessful. I've also been using this time to do some refining of the original inspiration. I tend to visualize my way through a concept to minimize any pitfalls that may crop up (sometimes to a fault). I'm finding it an advantage this time because it has allowed me to evolve the idea into something that goes beyond a single statement (at least in my head).

This image has certain associations that I'm not trying to deny, but instead add to or expand upon; bring out something hidden in a way that uses common associations as a foundation to produce a richer experience. Getting past straight documentation is what I find so difficult when it comes to mutual experiences. Deborah Fisher does a great job of explaining this idea in terms of sculpture.

I would argue that you've got to have a reason to do something as silly as remake something that already exists... and when it works, it works really well because of this very silliness. Working toward an exact representation of a thing that already exists can result in an act of Platonic Jujitsu.

I'm finding this challenge particularly difficult with video (currently a brown belt), because a faithful representation is needed to tap into the common associations. I'm anticipating that manipulating the timeline will be the solution to moving past these relationships (and no, not a montage!).

I know I'm being somewhat cryptic about the image (can you tell what it is?). It's because I'm not ready to cement what I'm trying to do with it. Although I've worked through a lot, I still feel I need to keep a few wild cards in order to maintain some sense of visual agility that will be stiffened (I know there's a better word) during the editing process.

This will also be the first time sound will be part of my work. Hopefully creating a hypnotizing experience that moves past base relationships. I will probably need help with this aspect as I have little experience working with sound editing. I'm looking forward to this collaboration. I've really started to open up to feedback on my work, something I resisted while in school. Maybe it's because I trust the circumstances of the people I consult (past the confused, insular student stage and into the "real world" version of confusion that I trust more).

November 18, 2006

Window Paintings

Details of window paintings

Day-glow window paintings have been calling my name lately. Of course, this is the main goal of such signage, but more and more, as I pass by day by day, I start to really wonder why. Is it just the color? Maybe the big, chunky forms used in the lettering? It's probably a mixture of that and more, including the fact that all of these are from the windows of food establishments (I'm weak). But why day-glow? Is that appetizing? Or does it simply get your attention and then hand you off to the next level of advertising? I'm not sure but what I'm interested in is the combinations of form and color represented in these windows, as well as using a recognizable visual language to put forth my own agenda.

The idea is to paint (something I've not done very well with in the past). There's a culmination of a lot of previous fits and starts brewing in my head and I've had a deep urge to do some flat work to try and accomplish things that wouldn't work in the current sculpture. As they are now, I find these images beautiful enough to very well be the finished works. But I have more needs than just beauty, although that is a big factor. Paintings have an ability to create their own context as opposed to sculpture, which relies, for the most part, on the physical space it resides in. It's context which I find most attractive. One that I can have more control over.

I guess this could be considered a progression of the poured works on paper, the difference being that I saw those as two-dimensional representations of three-dimensional objects. Objects that float in space, devoid of any context (I wanted a pure focus on the object with no interference). Orange to Red has a lot more to do with this direction.