goodbye to Sophie and hello to a new mentor

It has been on my mind for the past couple of days since I received the farewell letter from Sophie, the fact that I will be working with a new mentor. I will wait until I have confirmation of who that might be before i go much further but some thoughts come up.

I will try and just move forward from here, not keep referring back to the process that began last year, last term or whenever. I regret having removed all my postings over the past months and then again, think it's okay, we go forward, only.

I am leaving Westport in less than two weeks now 9and will be working from Auckland for the following two months, and then Canada etc) and working to complete the second of my 3D works.
As part of this idea of the 'formless'in art I am working against the elevation and the raising up of 3D work. I was pleased to create a support system that allows me to work on the ground ( horizontal) and which will still allow me freedom to work with mass/weight/density etc.
I am committed to using a stockpile of oamaru stone that I have here, and began this work the cutting today.
I am very much involved with process and watching this unfold with this material.
I have some ideas of what I might add to the mix at a later stage ( perhaps wax, more copper wire) but I don't want to spend too much time projecting what might happen.

I find myself thinking about it all continuously.

triganometer

100cmx100cm liquid wax, dye and india ink

Finishing off these works before I set off for Wellington to do some Genuine Contact Training.
Very happy with this piece and the possibility to do more.
150 metres of line. The piece has a powerful pulse working. there are strong forces at play creating figure, landforms, valleys and perspective. The detail however reveals a much more calm process.
Too soon to write in great detail what I think is going on.

screen triptych (completed)

,
180cmx40cmx3
hot wax on thick tracing paper, water soluble dye.

I'm pleased with the restored and completed screen. Considering that I started with the bare wooden supports it has been a satisfying process, one that I want to develop. I thought that when I go somewhere new, I might look out for more screens like this, repaper them and paint onto the support. the effect of the light shining through the relative opacity and transparency/translucence is beautuful and engaging.
The proces was interesting in the way I had to tell myself over and over to 'keep going' and 'don't give up' I create or encounter probelms both technical and emotional. I think I am of an age now that I just doggedly keep going. It continues to be like the cooking experience.....one just can't give up on ones cooking 'creations'.
Yes it is clear that I am still working with this transpapency theme which I picked up nearly 9 months ago, with those early greaseproof paper samples. I think it's beautiful. One part of the process is that past a certain point ( second layer of dye) I loose touch with the overall shape/sense/idea of the image. By the time the final layer of dye goes on.....it is impossible to recall/visualize the whole.
I like that...always being prepared to be suprised!

wood block and formless ( what I think I am doing)

100x100cm on brown kraft paper, water based printing ink, wax
This was begun some weeks ago and I decided to do more work on the negative spaces.
I decided to finish with it, finish it off.
After inking it up and running off some straight/simple prints, I was satisfied with the functionality of the block....then I began experimenting directly with the paper ( wax) and the block, coloured ink 'blobs', and the paper which I saw as a common, mundane surface/support.
I decided to not try and achieve crystal clear print definition, preferring to develop a direct spontaneous 'fluxus'. The addition of the wax to the paper proved to be a effective operation, introducting another layer sonmewhere between the more static wood block and the equally static or flat paper. Traces of a wax, repellant shadow ( are) present. The grid pattern ( of one hundred square) creates an information overload effect, that combined with the ill defined printing transfer, the random colour element and the etherial wax 'watermark' all conspire to subvert the passive viewing moment whilst supporting a shimmering moment of emptiness and formless quietude.





detail of block with wax gestural before printing.
( introducing wax onto the flat etched surface creates releif and a random uptake of the ink from the block to the paper; 2nd operation)



collage of block, ink, rollers, kraft paper and studio.
I'm pleased with the new studio which Niko and I built over the summer, nice views into the bush and over the river, I can hear it from inside. Big overhead lighting and white walls and wood ( sarking), nice. I've started using the liquid wax product, this after working with the hot wax on the NZ07 piece (posted below)
As to what I think I'm doing, it's ongoing, that question. Some reflections and soundings are posted here.



This is a detail of 1% of the whole metre squared print. Top left hand corner. I say, there is some depth and intensity present in areas. Sumptuousness, extravagance and meaninglessness.
It is not a wax seal upon an important letter. It is not a thumb print, and yet it does not stop trying to be.

NZ07

1000x1000mm wax, india ink, acylic, brick dust and oamaru stone dust

Finished the collaboarative work yesterday. We are both pleased with the result.
On collaboration, something going on there, some violence and boundaries, some rules and much more. There is letting go and there is control.
The end result is truly more than the sum of it's parts.
Shocking moments and new spaces opening up all the time. In the end it took over two months to emerge.
On the piece itself, I think it works well to undermine and also support a story about surface , about where the viewer stands, perspective and about the whole visual field.

Working with wax and taking away layers produces a dense medium, seductive and overwhelming perhaps.....

beginning of term....colloidal

colloidal...1000x1000mm clay, ink and graphite on canvas

Technically the start of my second term today and these images are a work which I did over the break. I still had some fire smouldering in my belly from last year, now there are 'other' fires burning. Today has been a grief filled day, letting go, hating it, loving it....voices voices pulling one way and the other. All in all, disagreeable. I did never-the-less carry on and work with some materials and begrudgingly, some fresh ideas. this image is the finished item and the natural progression from a recent previous posting.




















detail (above)

More obsession with transparency and this time wax...drawing with wax.
It's appearing in the context of a collaborative work undertaken with Audrey.
This is a very early photo, there is tape involved which may be removed later, and wax to be scrapped off, more, more and more.