C O M M I S S I O N = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = B r a d B r a c e 1 9 9 5 -=- | Classic Postmodern | | large-scale works | | executed on-site | - = - plus: several hundred small studies; [ collage/inks/photo-linoprints on paper ] 1979-95 -=-
This is certainly not a hasty enterprise. I have been following the directions of this art-activity for quite some time. Occasionally, other projects claim more of my attention, but this work has continued along a remarkably lengthy intuitive thread.
Inexplicably and suddenly it seemed, this particular aspect of my Art found financial and new critical patronage from two private supporters. I was first approached with this offer indirectly through a professional-social-string of individuals, many of whom have apparently grown exasperated with the stultified, defacto-art-world. I suspect that the following brief description included in a widely circulated, old teaching-resume, prompted the eventual patronage: _Millennium Project: Illustrations for an Essay (refracted Crystal Palace / collapsed and hollowed-out foreign cartoon imagery; several hundred red-inks on tracing, layout-paper-drawings/collages overprinted with 83 small, white-ink, photo-lino-blocks; studies for very large works in-situ; Classic PostModern) in progress._
Initially, my only other commitment in addition to this art-activity, was to provide a means of indicating the current state of the project by occasionally providing several of the works for private exhibition/loan. Other conditions and obligations are currently being amicably discussed between the original and more recent patrons. Because this project, still entitled, Millennium Project: (Red Drawings) Illustrations for an Essay, may be of interest to others I've begun to extend this documentation to a wider audience by means of the WWW. Eventually I'll be posting more imagery and movie-clips concerning the Work`s Progress.
Current History: While attending graduate school in 1979 I was able to expend more time considering the depletion of a dynamic linear-world-history in part, by means of ongoing image-making that was self-defining and self-correcting. These ideas are also manifested in my Metaconstruct-installations and ISBN-Book projects.
The essay portion of the Millennium Project, was rejected as a suitable Masters thesis; it consisted of dialogues cross-cut from various narrative levels in a manner similar, in turns out, to current uses of hypertext. The connection between dynamic-stasis and global-integration was examined in terms of the Art World.
The initial image considered was the Crystal Palace which contained a model for the amalgamation of various cultures/times. Newspaper accounts of its construction, interior-perspectives, the central fountain, and the fire were also of interest. At one point, a collaged Crystal Palace engraving was photo-enlarged to poster-size (6x12ft). Other images suggesting a collapsed, yet dynamic, ubiquitousness culture were also developed. The most successful of which were made from half-tone pictures of automobiles in Auto-Trader magazine: zeroxed onto acetate and multiple sandwiches made from images of various models taken from similar angles. This resulted in a flurry of hundreds of b&w photo-prints which were subsequently reduced and stacked in columns on top of the surface of the Crystal Palace poster. Then, reduced and inverted collage elements of various models of televisions are positioned on the roofs of the collapsed and collided vehicles.
The concept of a fused-vision found form again in monochrome paintings. This time, made with thin washes of various shades of red drawing inks on (by now) a couple of thousand 9x12in sheets of tracing and layout papers. By extending a focused and receptive, creative process across an abnormally larger number of receptive fields, more of the incidental variations would remain intact and emphasize ongoing induction over a false or compromised current time. Or so it seemed.
The very thin red ink washes are applied to a couple of hundred sheets of paper at a time. The wet sheets are piled on top of each other to dry. The color is offset and pages stick in places, sometimes requiring a collaged repair. Additional similarly painted, collaged material is introduced. Covered vestiges of other colors (blues, greens, purples and no-color) are added to the thin layers. The sheets are compressed and flattened under heavy weights prior to intensive printing sessions.
The instantaneity of collective-imagery was suggested by re-drawing selected, hollowed-out, narrative cartoon-imagery. These drawings were transferred to photo-linoleum-printing-blocks where they were further defined. The 84 lino-blocks (approx 3-1/2 x 4in) are repeatedly printed with white and yellow-ochre-tinted inks on the red, collaged sheets. Overprinting and additional collage are part of the process to articulate the sensuality and conjunction of repeated imaging. Some discreet, figurative elements from the re-drawn cartoon imagery were transferred to the Crystal Palace poster.