I apologize for the delay in making this post, but I firmly believe that there are some things more important than your own art, such as the recent discussions (here, here, and here) with James W. Bailey. Sometimes I wish all artists held that belief. Moving on...
Last week I shared the beginning of a body of work that involved drilling a pattern of holes in MDF, then layering colors of paint on the surface, and finally sanding through the layers to produce a multi-colored expressionistic experience. In last week's post I discussed all of the details of the work - the ideas that came to mind. As I progressed I wanted to further develop those ideas and attempt to produce works that felt better in my eye. You know... something that works! What resulted is as follows:
John Deere
MDF, Spray Paint, Holes
11" x 26"
2004
John Deere is a piece that attempts to create a feeling of randomness, although it is anything but, at least in terms of the holes. We've already discussed how the paint is random-appearing, but in actuality, a product of the materials. Anyway, in this piece I wanted to provide a reward to the viewer who feels like searching a bit. Not a pot of gold, or even a gold star, but if the viewer looks closely they will find a pattern in the piece. What I did was arrange different sized holes in a flowing, looping line from one side of the piece to the other. If you look closely, you'll see that the lines origniate from the lower lefthand corner and flow to the upper righthand corner (or vice versa of course). Though the lines criss and cross, if you pick a certain sized hole you can follow its line from side to side. Think of it as connecting the dots (is there a better or more direct composition to lead the viewer's eye through the piece?), but no neat image results in the end. I've only provided a process and an experience... sorry! As I've discussed before, what I was interested in at this time was rewarding the viewer with something if they care to look deep enough. Here, it's precise order in the face of apparent randomness.
Oh, one other detail. What I learned from 2209 was that it would be interesting to add one other "layer" to the work. What I figured out was that if the bottom color and the top color were the same, when I sanded through the paint it would be very difficult for the viewer to determine the order of paint. Examine John Deere. If you really think about it, and someone might just do that besides me, you can figure it out. The order here is: sage green on dark red on light yellow on sage green. My experience thus far has been that you can tell the viewer any order and they'll believe it. It's just one of those, "How'd they do that?" experiences, and something you'll see going foward.
Dilapidation
MDF, Spray Paint, Holes
26" x 11.5"
2004
I apologize in advance that this image doesn't capture the true coloration of the piece. The white is really white, the tan is tan, and the brown is brown. It doesn't look this muddy in real life, I promise. There aren't any hidden patterns here. In Dilapidation I wanted to experiment with big-to-small hole patterns. In this case I've created two triangles that seem to recess away from the viewer in the middle of the work. Again, I'm exploring depth, and here it's perceived three dimensional depth. This piece also got me thinking about using colors that are near each other in the color wheel... those which are close relatives, perhaps even incestuous. In future posts I'll show how I went down this road.
Axis
MDF, Spray Paint, Holes
23" diameter
2004
Though I had tried out shapes other than the rectangle or square in the past (Amoeba), I wanted to continue further experimentation. What results is the simple, classic circle. In Axis, I also wanted to use a color combination I never thought would work, and I'm not sure it has (I get mixed reviews on this piece). Again, no hidden surprises here unfortunately. My gift to the viewer is putting together sage green, dark red, dark blue and pink, in one relatively small composition. Say it with me, YUMMY!! Something somewhat important to notice is the hole pattern. It's a pattern I developed on this piece but has been incorporated elsewhere (such as Burst #1 seen at DCAC). It is a pattern that I am infatuated with and that I plan on incorporating into many future pieces.
I like the above work, not so much for what it is, but for where it took me. In weeks to come I hope to illustrate how one simple (or not so simple) idea transforms again and again, producing pieces that I think work better and better.
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