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The
Presentation 3.6 |
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On Practice &
Presentation
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This Elemental
Artist. |
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As an artist I am twice
involved with the realisation of every picture, once as the author and editor
of it's content, and again as the manager of its delivery, in the material
vehicle upon which a fragile image is to endure. Solutions to the first set of
problems have suggested themselves throughout my career, solutions to the
latter have emerged only in the last few years. |
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A
Public Art has always been my point of departure, though it may have seemed
more like a dream on the way. There is nothing more chastening than to try
and live up to ones own ambition. I began Experimenting with Geometric
drawing whilst still in school. It seemed liberating and profoundly
interesting, I mean the word in its literal sense, as deep, where Pure
Shape, devoid of all but the intention of line, revealed as a skeletal
foundation, not only the conventions of representation, but to the
foundations of representation. |
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At first I thought I was engaged on some kind of a groundworking, that I would progress out of. I could not have known that this Mode of work was to be the engagement of my life, it grew to be a true and practical vocation. I found vision, direction, and an unshakeable sense of purpose. In truth, I have never been happy away from Art, and have never been happier than when fully engaged in it. |
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I am a printmaker, in the sense that the final result of my work is, or has
been hitherto, Printed. My final one off bespoke result enjoys the perfection
of print, after the many previous, and sometimes messy working
stages, as a montage, or a process that may involve splicing, pasting,
drawing over, or by any other means that an image is created. The print is
the casting in bronze. The art in my work, that which I would have you
‘read’, is that presentation of content on a neutral surface, and dose not
involve the texture of the surface, or necessarily the constitution of the
materials themselves. These are matters concerning the endurance of an image
in a physical world. Some abstract Artists have made of such concerns as
these, a matter of their Art, that is for them, I do not. This is far from
saying such matters do not concern me, on the contrary I am fussy to 'the
ninth part of a hair' over matters of presentation. I am as I have said, as
an Artist, twice involved in the realisation of every picture. |
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I
had once thought that my work should not be framed. My ideal of the
perfection of the 'A - Paper size'
proportion, had led me to insist that the edge of the paper, was the
final and vital part of the composition itself, setting as it would, the
proportion of those constituents posited in it, by defining the Negative
space, enclosing
the image. I called this the Limit, as the ‘Limit Case of a
pictorial element. I would use outsized frameless frames, and fix the piece
to a black background itself an 'A' size larger; or I would insist to a
framer that his frame covered no part of the compositions exact Format.
Then in a restaurant I saw a huge picture framed in steel, I new then that my
largest A0 pictures, previously unframed, could now be framed. Now the one
off final format for my Works, that constitute my ''Original',
in that sense, is an 841 x 1189 mm A0 [ = 1 Sq. meter ] Laminate
Panels, are all framed, in steel
usually and glazed. |
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My finished Works, presented as Large laminate panels, typically begin life as an A3 or A2 page on draftsman’s table where they evolve. The first move in a 'gameplan' where the rules evolve with the playing, is to divide the space. The first mark made, be it by a line of any length in any direction, or a curve, or an outlined figure, a circle or polygon, has placed possibility in the void, like the first division of a cell. The next move depends now on the first, it has to counterpart it, the next division of space. In Music one note is neither a theme nor a tonality, two notes however are the beginning of both. The primary concern of any visual Artist, in representative Form or not, is Visual Space, the Picture Plane. The primary or elemental concern of visual Space, is Shape; that which encloses and defines Space. The elemental description of Shape, is Geometry; thus elemental Shape is Geometric, hence Elemental shape is Geometric. The Project of my Work, my aesthetic of elemental Shape, an Aesthetic of Pure Shape is then Elementalism. I would place Elementalism for the most part in the area of OP Art, I am very happy to be called an OP Artist, though the two terms are not directly synonymous. |
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These visual ‘Elements’, (After Euclid), my pure Quanta
of Representation, are my palette. In the various degrees of size of
any figure, in the circle for example, in diameters of 50, 100, 150mm etc, I
have my analogue of ‘possible shades’ in colour. Sizes though like shades are
a continuous scale, so for convenience I have templates of dozens of
each figure, in regularly ascending sizes, with which I have become
intimately familiar. I can now predict and sense my need of any individually
sized figure, as with the colourist and his palette. I have hundreds of
templates and curves of all degree. Most of which I have had custom built in
large sizes by sign writing companies with their computer guided cutting
tools. Some however are specific design tools or even ‘Found objects’. |
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I restrict
myself, however, to small set of tools each time and look to see what kinds of Order I can tease out of their possible
combinations. I have discovered or devised methods for their integration
or close packing, at tangents or in alignments, so that they mesh
into structures, giving the illusion of depth and perspectives, when
rendered, by varying thicknesses of line in an architectural fashion. Some of
these ‘Molecular’ combinations become
recognisable as repeating themes in my works. |
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I rehearse the inclusion of each
new component Element, I will move the template, fractionally repositioning each
time, to fully engage a mechanical purpose, its structural imperative. These
Geometric or graphic Elements,
as the Given of my visual language, as a Primary marks, a Line Division or
Enclosure and definition of Space, are my
Pure Shape’. My Work then, in its most fundamental sense, is to create
Order As an Aesthetic of Pure Shape. The manipulation, or Composition
with these Elements, with this Pure Shape, is the beginning of Form,
which in its Primary sense is the Abstracted notion of Representation, that I
will permit myself to see a Sphere in a circle. My Visual Art proceeds by the Apprehension of
Form, the trick in the mind that can resolve a circle to a sphere,
where Form is the constructive principle of visual perception. We do
not ‘see’ with our eyes but rather with our intelligent minds. A completed
perception, or Apprehension of a Form, or object, is compounded by our
experience and expectation. As the author of the perceptual clues you receive
from a Work, I will guide your apprehension. My Art in Elementalism
is the active direction of the notional object you will per-Form in your
mind. Hence, I sometimes say that I
“compose ‘string Quartet’ for black line”; pushing an analogy with musical
composition. Like many Artists before me I feel this relationship to the
compositional abstraction of music with its Formalism very Keenly. In Composition, with the ‘Wireframe’ black line of
Pure Shape, I work through the possibilia of interactions, of elements
to underpin representation, in an Aesthetic of Pure Form. I occupy the
fascinating ground between the strictures of pure Abstraction and true
representation; the deep foundations of Pictorial Space In the rendering of Form
each component Element has a purpose in the work into which it is
placed, influencing the Nature of the ultimate outcome of the Work
as a whole. |
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. A Work is it is
completed Progression, it is complete a whole single idea, when I can see
that no operation or addition is needed. An uncompleted picture is one still
full of problems. Every line every, junction, stands to justified in part of
the composition, as any new lines or additions are proposed they must satisfy
me as to their necessity, lines are not there for decoration, one to many and
my emerging plan is in trouble. Sometimes finding that ‘Last Move’ reveals
something quite amazing and I get a 'Kicks inside'. I can explain this no
more precisely than to say it is like a Physical 'kick inside', that is say,
I Know, that what I have done is good. I call this point of completion Closure.
I may have fought hard for closure, Staring for hours, looking for the
resolution. Occasionally, a picture wont close at all, it has no
resolution to find. At times pictures close like a gift from the gods. I
have come to say that they display, or have Elegance; In the same way that a theorem in
Logic or a truth in mathematics has Elegance. Elegance is the elusive quality
I search for through my work and occasionally find. Then I feel that
something has been said, something has been created. |
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Historically, Abstract artists,
have frequently made the analogy from their Work to Music. Simplistically
swirling colours might be mapped onto Music's immediacy and emotion, which
both media evoke or induce. Analytically, however, musical composition is
a construction where individual
sounds function mechanically or Elementally in chords, progressions,
rhythms and themes, where measure and order are micro-managed. This
Refined Analogy holds soundly for this Visually Elemental
Art. Compositionally I can transpose and transform an initial set
to create a series of pictures that are thematically variations of one
another though, a transferable cell. Examples of this Variation
theory in my work are my 1990 set ‘Seven Polygonic Dances’ and the 12
picture series ‘I Contemplate’ from 1999, and there are many others. |
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In Music a Compositions direction
is set and altered by Tonality, any two notes are indicative of some broad tonality, two Elements do likewise
visually as they indicate a projection or intention of direction or perspective. Polytonality in music is
multiple tonalities heard at once, it’s
irregular, it’s unpredictable and not accountable to the laws of progressive
harmony. My direct analogy for this is Polyperspectivity, or
Polypoint Perspective being in a picture, multiple perspectives, seen
at once. Like wise this is irregular and unpredictable to the minds sense of
the singularly perspectival world. I frequently do this by building lattices
with Pentagons, heptagons, 5, and 7 pointed stars, offsetting multiple angles
for generating layers of perspectives. These descriptions apply most directly
to my Classically constructive principle but for me Elementalism is
wider than this including what I term The Process and Automatic
Principles |
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In 1991, I made the first of what
I came to call 'Process' pieces or 'Process Art'.
Where the picture’s final content, is set by a defined act of process, and not
one of expediency and chance. These Pictures are built to a precise process
or Formulation, where composition is not a game, evolved as
it's played, even in the strict sense of thematic Variation. Process Art is
completely built to a Given set of instructions. After these are set no further invention is needed. 'Transposition
Awry 1991', pictured below, and named as a pun on
the word 'Array', I Prescribed as follows: |
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"Create a grid of 1400 small squares G3.
Overlay this with a second grid of 400 larger squares G2 each of which
will enclose 4 of the smaller G3 squares. Now Overlay a final grid
G1, of 4 squares, each of which will enclose 100 of
the G2 squares. Place now a filled black circle, almost but not
quite the size of a G2 square into the corner of each of the 400 G2
squares. Each Circle will be placed such that you see 4 groups of
100 circles One Group of 100 in each G1 square. The 100
circles in each G1 Group will be all aligned to one of the 4 possible G3
corners at tangent to its sides, in their respective G2 square". |
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Now each 100 circle group seems to
shift slightly in the full 400 circle array with an unsettling ripple. The
400 Black circles ought to seem static but the eye tells the brain something
else is happening something is going 'Awry'.. I created this
piece as a homage to Brigit Riley my master of OP.
Many of my Black Star works in 2000 owe much to this Process principle. The
Ripple is the result of the mind vacillating between what it can see and what
it thinks it ought to see, the human apprehension of pattern is much like
that of objective Form, it seek symmetry and simplicity. |
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Transposition
Awry - 1991 |
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A final principle I use is one of Automatic
Art where it is simply the act of judgement that produces
a picture’s content. If I turn a picture that I am dissatisfied with upside
down it often looks worse, but occasionally it revels a whole new work, this
is in a sense an Automatic picture, because I did not, in a strict sense
compose it, I simply recognised it for what it could be when I saw it.
Similarly I have taken a empty paper frame and sampled a
portion of an existing work of mine. I have then isolated this, enlarged it
and It has become a work in it's own right. I have, in some of my Star montages,
combined copies of pictures to form new patterns. I have conjoined some with
12 Stars, to form varieties with 24 or 48. Importantly they are still my
compositions, I do not sample or borrow from anyone else's work. My
integrity is that at root all these pictures are testament to my
professional judgement and are uniquely my vision. In their way they
are all felt from within an Elemental approach to composition. Elementalism is akin to OP Art in the sense that ‘down here’, in the
‘foundations’ of representation, by composing clues for your perception to
follow, and traps for it to fall into. I compose with your anticipation of
what you think you ought to have seen, by letting you ‘fill in the gaps’ for
me; or by misdirecting you altogether. With Poly-Point Perspectives, [by
the analogy with 2 & 3 point perspective] I can make you perceive in more
than three dimensions [See my: ‘Picture in Polypoint’, Multifaith
centre University of Derby]. Sending perception awry is the classic staple of
the optical illusionist, which many of my works undoubtedly make me. Text and Picture © julian Broadhurst 1991,
2OO1, 2OO6 |
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