Saturday, 21 October 2017
Art as
Things we choose to examine Things that come unbidden
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Art as Science | Art as alchemy
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Words
Images
Friday, 20 October 2017
Wednesday, 4 October 2017
The Shiny Black Box
Next comes the shiny black box, transposed from another place .
My container for objects, .
Waiting to be understood. .
If you opened its lid you would find, .
Layered on top of each other; .
1 .
A square of rag paper, .
Folded in four, .
Red symbol of a heart painted on its centre, .
The four chambers delineated in silver. .
2
A loose-leaved booklet of scraps bearing scribblings .
about the beating heart, .
The centre of life, .
Its four chambers, .
The heart of stone, .
Burden, .
And in the centre-fold; .
An instruction to; .
Draw a heart . Make a heart .
Cut it in 2 . Embalm each half in material .
3
A tri-folded page of words associated with digging things up and inspecting them closely; .
Skeletal Remains .
archaeological discoveries that lead to part understanding .
perhaps a mis-understanding .
Archaeological discoveries . .
Digging .
Dissection .
4 .
a scrap of an idea in the form of a piece of A4 paper cut .
into 3 equal strips and glued at one end .
holding them together;
.
Digging .
printed in my anxious print writing on the front strip; . .
Burying .
on the next; .
Uncovering .
on the last. .
5
A collection of papers, enfolded in one A4 piece. .
Open at its centre and you will find; .
A piece of Japanese Kodi rag paper folded in 4. .
Each square with a red heart painted in deep crimson. .
One full red heart mirrored by one empty outline, .
The pattern repeated and reversed on the opposite side. .
Behind that, a piece of hand-made rice paper, inset with leaves, .
A4, folded in half, .
On which I painted the heart symbol, .
Divided by the crease, .
Each half individual, .
Like two petals joined at some fulcrum, .
Arching away from each other. .
I'd been thinking about tattoos, .
And symbols.
And that is probably why the next piece of paper is also .
A heart shape, .
Pink really, .
I let the watercolour wash drip .
into a single drop of deep red, .
Which gathers at the base where, .
The two halves meet. .
It seems I got a bit obsessed with hearts .
for a while; .
The sentimentality of the symbol, .
Both distressing and compelling. .
The half a piece of A3 underneath, .
Marks my departure into circles. .
I'm quite impressed by my ability to paint them. .
Here, I've painted two pink circles joining .
At the crease of the paper, .
The pink paint blending perfectly so .
that you can barely see the overlap. .
I couldn't repeat that I don't think, .
Although I might try. .
I like the thinness of the red rim .
as it delineates their bottoms. .
The page cradling that image .
Is scrawled with my writing .
in pencil which reads: .
I've been imagining the heart as 2 parts for a long time. I know it has four chambers physically, but it always feels divided in 2 to me. It's a sad image isn't it. The heart's our central muscle + it can be robust, but it's subject to such alot of onslaught over a life time and it can feel awfully fragile at times.
Love is a well. We can all draw from it at any time, whether you're alone or not. .
( I struck out the word "you're" and wrote "here" over the top which makes no sense. .
Perhaps it is actually "we're", or .
perhaps the no sense is the sense of it. .
I don't like dictating to people. .
Perhaps I should replace it with the word I, .
Inorder that it reads more like a meditation). .
The four folded pieces make a sort of book. .
6
Open underneath lies a scan of a heart that I painted a long time ago before .
I became obsessed with the drawing of their anatomy. .
At this time, .
I was thinking of their structure because, .
I did study anatomy a long time ago, .
Before I studied sculpture. .
This very pale sketch is part of a series, .
Very tentative, .
Half - hearted ( the analogy runs deep and far ) , .
Something I laid out before me in tandem with, .
Making a structure from long twigs, which .
Resembled a cage, which .
I hung in the garden, .
At the top of our large, rambling, .
Lovely garden. .
I have a photograph which relates to it. .
Somehow, one day, the trees' bare branches formed
a blue heart
from the space delineated by
them, touching, tenuously,
In the optical illusion of the camera lens's gaze,
As I captured them branching towards each other,
The ailing Ash and the struggling Sycamore,
As I stood staring from the bottom to the top
of the garden.
The view, captured.
It had resonance and meaning,
Changing over time,
From the initial tacky Valentine,
To the evolving idea of connection,
As I considered more and more,
Roots and messages,
Signs and symbols.
7
I've always had a penchant for the number seven.
The seventh item is a piece of crumpled white tissue paper.
I think I can remember where it came from;
A present.
I could make the memory up.
8
Under the tissue are scattered some disparate objects;
A tin which has the word Fossil written on it.
It's interesting because the lid has a picture of wood grain
printed upon it,
Making no attempt to
pass for wood,
Content to be a facsimile,
Of it's original.
Inside upon the velvet lined shell,
I've placed a fossil,
A perisphinctes ammonite,
From the Late Jurassic epoch,
An extinct Cephalopod,
Claimed by stone.
Replace the lid.
Next to the box,
Another stone with a hole right through it.
Hagstone.
It lies in tandem,
In close proximity to,
Emrys's stone.
Touchstone.
Take the Hagstone,
Look through it,
Put it in my left hand.
Light.
Take the Touchstone,
Feel its heavy weight
in my right palm,
Weigh the two against,
And re - place them,
Tandem.
I'm at the bottom now.
The key and the broken shell necklace, which
Slide around the bottom of the box, beside
The stones are disparate things,
The significance of their presence here forgotten.
I could make it up.
The base of the box is perfectly lined with
A brown A4 envelope and,
I know if I open it,
The crux of all the thinking
That went into this box,
May become apparent.
For the time being,
I resist;
Remantle the box,
Replace its lid.
Put it on the pile.
Saturday, 1 July 2017
Art Meditation 4 : Repetition
It is the process that we feel the need to repeat,
As if in repetition we will reach understanding,
Like drawing a circle with one sweep,
Each time, expecting to create something nearer to perfection,
Yet each time,
We create another completely individual circle.
We create through repetition
Wednesday, 28 June 2017
Art Meditation 3 : Reflection
We do not make the thing we set out to make
It is a parallel thing to the idea which existed
It's existence lies beside the original intention
The Idea The Object
Actions mirror intentions
But the mirror does not supply a complete reflection and it incorporates other features which we did not intend in our original idea.
The internal The external
Art Meditation 2 : Progression
When you begin to make the transition from the internal idea into
an external thing
in space
METAMORPHOSIS
begins
The imagery which was completely formed as an idea,
with all its attendant associations,
of
memory
words
colour
shape
transforms itself as the external world imposes and overlays it with its own.
And it restricts the growth of the original idea
It alters it,
even to the extent of warping it out of shape sometimes
until what lies before you is something entirely separate
distinct
different
What we make is a
parallel thing
There is always two
The thing
It's twin
Tuesday, 27 June 2017
Art Meditation 1 Impossible things : choice of media
If you have an idea for a piece of art which occurs out of the blue as a finished thing after a long period of thought, you can, after pondering how to actually bring it into being, decide that it is actually an impossible thing and so you had better try and draw it.
You could, of course, attempt to paint it, create it in film, make a collage of it,
or describe it in language.
So it is, that when you meditate on an idea and you attempt to envisage it as a real thing, a thing in itself;
you can sometimes begin
to ponder
the art of making
the impossible
possible.
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