The bounds of the studio are expanded in summer, as in: where I do my thinking is my studio; as in: I feel guilty for not using my space but guiltier for not being outside and away when I can, so where thinking is happening is the studio. That is to say: here is what I’ve been thinking about (and! I’ve been back in the studio, too).
Sol Lewitt’s white on blue Wall Drawing 260A hit me in a new way when I revisited in July. The formal parallels to what I’ve been working on: the white line on blue. The structural process with carefully inserted chance - the wavy lines! Patterning and irregularity and where they meet.
Lewitt is so rigid and pure when it comes to process, and I don’t fully relate to that, but feel motivated by the injection of chance through structure, abandonment of the artist’s will, what is revealed of the artist’s will by the structure of process. There’s so much potential for magic - like Lewitt says himself: mysticism! new experience! From his Sentences on Conceptual Art:
1 - Conceptual Artists are mystics rather than rationalists. They leap to conclusions that logic cannot reach.
2 - Rational judgements repeat rational judgements.
3 - Illogical judgements lead to new experience.
4 - Formal Art is essentially rational.
5 - Irrational thoughts should be followed absolutely and logically
What lies beyond logic!! Let’s create elaborate rational structures to find out.
I haven’t considered myself someone concerned with drawing really, until moving into larger scale with the cyanotypes. And it has really been a function of: how can I make a record of these words that doesn’t exactly replicate the form of the poem on paper. Something that doesn’t look like a poem-shaped hole. In this, obscuring the process in the formal (cyanotype, poem) is part of the work.
But that’s not to keep people out (hence my inclination to illuminate processes here). Its to maybe say:
30 - There are many elements involved in a work of art. The most important are the most obvious.
Who am I to say what is most important (or even most obvious)! I love all of the elements.
Plus,
24 - Perception is subjective
25 - The artist may not necesarily understand his own art. His perception is neither better nor worse than that of others.
There are 35 sentences in total, and then some paragraphs too. There are plenty of good ones I’ve left out to muse on. I would also be remiss not to mention Marissa’s many newsletters that refer to Sol Lewitt’s work, too.
There’s not a terribly specific point I’m trying to get to beyond: I’ve been thinking a lot about process and concept lately and the function of them in my practice and how they connect to the aesthetics of the final pieces they produce, the role they play in how the pieces are received. I wouldn’t file myself away as a conceptual artist (or a photographer, or a poet). All I can really point to is: this is how the work gets made, I don’t have another way of finding this end. That feels like reason enough.
I don’t have a good photo of this finished piece yet, so this poem will have to serve as its record for now.
solitude is where
I noticed the city probing
How long was it
the closest thing
to every living slightly
simmering loneliness
never alone
in that moment nothing says light
when light said
fold in
scream anything
“turn in” so alive
I’m the one
notice me?
embracing our contradictions
& you are your own
I’m happiest when I’m just
my phantom flesh
notice
our immersion
somewhere between
immediately
intimate and banal
I didn’t want to jump
very wisely
look for a blend of sweet
austere mystical
undeniable unassailable
never lost
leaning towards
trying to love
someone up