Thursday, January 14, 2010

New Experiments


...with cut paper and ink.
It's good to be back in the studio, just playing without results in mind. I'm increasingly (or continuously) interested in making work that feels fragile, temporary and simple. This has been a theme in my visual work for the last few years - wanting to get away from elaborate infrastructures of display - producing something that feels more humble (yet elegant). This is a quality I've always admired in Richard Tuttle's work - an approach that in his work is so extreme, it transforms into boldness. I like that transition.
I've also been interested in making objects that exist somewhere between drawing and sculpture. These paper-cuts are essentially two-dimensional, but they float and cast shadows in nice ways - they have a potential for dimensionality. They will likely each be hung with a single pin (as in this picture). I want to make others in which the ink warps the paper and gives it more shape. I've been inspired by Micronesian stick charts, something I first noticed in the Met.


These charts map ocean currents between the Marshall Islands for navigational purposes.