The Contingent Object

November 25, 2022November 25, 2022startind

Richard Serra. Joe: **Torqued Spiral,** 2000. Weatherproof steel. 13 ½ x 45 x 36 ½ feet. Plate thickness: 2 inches. Collection of the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, Saint Louis. Photo by Dirk Reinartz. © 2008 Richard Serra/Artists Rights Society, New York.

Abstract forms and spatial experience

The function of copying or transcription

The play between abstraction and representation,

Equivalents – Fall

Artifacts and relics.

The cast and the copy; a function of authorship and reproduction.

Participation as a function of the original

Participation as an act of design or arrangement

Participation as a challenge to authority,

Participation as a vehicle for heterogeneity

Avalanche

Or performance

Of the fragmented mark

Of the symbolic equivalent

Of play between absence and presence

Performing the failure of the mark or trace of bodily action

The Shadow [Detective]

Fingerprint

The Shadow [Detective] collecting commodities and subjects as a basis for subsequent practices.

Slumber

Reproduction as a basis for quotation and reference

Reproduction as mediation and transformation of

Perpetual Photos and Plaster Surrogates

Originals decay or deteriorate.

Mortar and Pestle

Diagrams construct an ephemeral site in place of the object

Diagrams as a form of delay

Diagrams as a form of intent:

Viewing Matters, Face to Face in the Public Toilets

‘May I Help You?’

‘Yes, I would like a bag of donuts and 3 urinals please.’

‘Not Here’

Avalanche

Lick, Lather and Gnaw at impermanence as the index

Lick, Lather and Gnaw at the contingent object

Lick, Lather and Gnaw at the experience

Lick Lather and Gnaw at the material evidence of authenticity

Gnaw at organic materials

Gnaw at chocolate, lard and soap

And yet still there looms a galvanized iron wall and a straight single tube where there dances the

Preserved Head of a Bearded Woman decorated with a String of Puppies

Puppies which need a lot of care and attention

What is this Strange Fruit [for David]?

Painted Bronze, Fountain Meltdown

The scrap metal process separates idea from material truth: an Island within an Island

No amount of Litanies can stop this Statement of Esthetic Withdrawal

The artist’s hand now becomes an object of desire along with Neon Templates of the Left Half of My Body Taken at Ten-Inch Intervals.

Drowned Monuments and Shared Fate; a function of external evidence like Every Building on the Sunset Strip

Short Circuit – Casting, Splashing, Torqued Ellipses

a simple ‘verb list’

Remade readymades,

Readymade readymades

Eureka!

Image reproduced from https://imagejournal.org/article/gravity-and-grace/ (accessed 25/11/22)

Letters of Motivation – Move[ME]nt

November 16, 2022startind Leave a comment

Loïe Fuller & The Serpentine Dance, physical poet, 1862-1928

things shifting, slowly, imperceptibly, m-o-o-o-ving, don’t…know…where to…a movement toward […] away…shifting…things appearing…vanishing…[sub] emerging…it might be too soon to say “A Denise”…might be a “A…might be “A…D…might just be ” but at least that is a start…an opening

[flashing cursor on the screen as I pause then press return…and move…toward…

…uncertain steps, uncertain of his convictions, unsure of herself and…]

her future, an uncertain smile seeking a point at which rays of light converge as they simultaneously diverge, searching for the distinctness or clarity of an image rendered by an optical system in the act of moving,

a change in place
or
position, the focus of a lens, whir-click, click-clack

touching the ornaments – knick-knack – with uncertain fingers – touch, brush, tap, tap, tap…tick…tock, hearing the driving and regulatory mechanism of a watch or a clock, a movement toward, finding in the rhythmic structure of movement a self contained symphony…

a series of actions and progressive events, a centre of interest and a movement toward,

move as smoothly as wind across water, move listlessly, move quick and light, move like a flightless bird, like a shoal of silver fish, dart, descend, drift, float, glide, move as if on a treadmill to the centre of interest and a movement

toward the distinctness or clarity of an image,

pace, rush, scamper, shuffle, c-r-e-e-e-e-e-p, glide like a shadow|shadow, twist, travel, totter, hover […]

like a woman uncertain of his convictions, unsure of herself, an uncertain smile groping in the dark for the sub-conscious memory of a rhythmic structure of movement – toward – a self contained symphony.

uncertain seeking, unsure future, uncertain convictions, taking uncertain steps to a point…to a point…to a point…to a point…to a point…to to to the point at which rays of light simultaneously converge and diverge –

move[ME]nt.

Artists Foot Notes © My Sole

Loïe Fuller image reproduced from https://bibliolore.org/2013/05/20/loie-fullers-serpentine-success/

Chronically Fatigued

LinkJuly 31, 2017July 31, 2017startind

Hippolyte Bayard, Portrait of Self as a Drowned Man, 1840

As I lowered myself slowly into the pool I hoped no-one would notice my muscles shaking and my face wince from the pain in my shoulders. I went to the edge and looked down a 25m barrel. I stood there feeling a little relief as my body was supported by the water. How am I going to do this? Well you taught yourself before Denise so you can teach yourself again. Ok, deep breath, you got this.

Usually I go to the pool when it’s fast swim times but not today. I watched two women swimming in slow motion and thought how I’d usually roll my eyes, these people would usually be in my way back when I could swim a mile 5 times a week without blinking. I love swimming, but it’s been at least 6 months and longer since I could exercise (I realise how much I’ve lost track of time, this started in 2016). I can only do the breaststroke but even then I was faster than a lot of people doing the front crawl.

I didn’t look at the clock but kept my eye on the goal. I’d prescribed myself 20 lengths and a jacuzzi for the pain, which radiating from a multitude of indeterminate spots, makes itself most at home in my shoulders. So I put my goggles on and set off…s l o w l y, even then these women were in my way and I got frustrated, glad to see I haven’t lost my competitive spirit.

After 8 slow lengths with good form I realised I had to stop. I look like I’ve hardly done anything but my body was doing a lot and it told me so. Now what? Just walk. I can’t do that it’s ridiculous. Do you want to do these 20 lengths or not? Yes…then walk. Tears of frustration gathered in my goggles, I’d usually power through the water like a knife through hot butter. I cleared my goggles. Ok deep breath, you got this. I walked for 5 lengths. Kid, I said, you’re over half way…but my body felt like lead. I stopped and turned my back on the pool and grabbed my left arm because my shoulder was still trembling. Should I get out? I feel stupid. No I said that would be a stupid reason to get out. I gave myself a few minutes and then swam 5 more lengths

s l o w l y.

18 lengths, ok good enough just walk the last two, so I did. I stood at the poolside exhilarated and trembling. Normally I’d be the kind of person who says well if you can do 20, you can do 30 and if you can do 30, you can do 40…but not today.

I went to the steps to get out, it felt like I was trying to drag a beached whale out of the water. Is it just me or is everything going in slow motion…1…2….3…..out.

I walked

s l o w l y

to the jacuzzi feeling like I was still dragging that beached whale behind me. Of course no-one could see that but it was there. I gave myself 15 minutes of bubbles as my reward.

Today and the next day I can’t even put the washing away…maybe next time I go I should just float or give myself bubbles. No you won’t next time you go you’ll do the same until you can swim 20 lengths and then you’ll add one length at a time until you get there. Maybe it was too soon, will there be a next time?.

Of course there will, but in the meantime you will have to occupy that twilight space between the living and the dead…

Ok, deep breath, you got this.

Image reproduced from http://thenonist.com/index.php/thenonist/permalink/self_portrait_as_a_drowned_man/ accessed 31/07/17

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