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This blog is a diary of visual research.

An archive of ‘undisciplined’ meandering.

Glimpses of contemplation, musing, reading, wandering, collecting & gathering. Drawing in silence & sound, light & dark. Deep within this rumination is an honest account of the evolution behind creating, discovering, and traveling down the twisted life path of an artist.

Crit. Group Response #1

Crit Group Feedback:

Novemeber 2016

Thank you to everyone in our crit. group for taking the time to give such productive and thought provoking responses. There is so much to consider here, questions I had not thought of, new directions and research that has lead to far reaching places that I had not anticipated. I really appreciate your generosity of time and knowledge. I am super excited to have such varied points of view to consider and feel very lucky to have you all as part of this project.

Louis

  • Continue investigating the transparent paper as a material
  • Scars…deeply rooted patterns that relate to pain, trauma, struggle, memories, time passing…
  • Using the breath as a tool for human connection and consider some of the interesting research on yawning as a way to create empathy with others.
  • Provided a link to Fides Krucker – vocalist

Zee

  •  The eclipse also relates to dilated pupils – the circular blackness invites you to acknowledge/engage with the void, stillness, suspension and the unknown…
  • There is the possibility that these eclipses/planets are still or holding breath…

  • "it’s interesting how you’ve shaded the area around (esp for the fully black form) which forms a vignette of sorts, creating “breathing space”, a pattern that inhales and exhales, and pulses if you stare at it for long !"

  • "The second and the third light drawing is more of an eye, with more rings and patterns within it, but is the third (from the left) not a perfect circle? or is that just the illusion of the shading? also, unlike the other two, it isn’t centred, how did that happen?"

    • All three images of the circular light drawing are the one drawing. The third image on the left is the drawing in progress. The other 2 images are the finished drawing, one with a light source and one without. The third progress image is off centre and not an illusion.

  •  Enjoyed the circular form more than the portraits.
  • Suggestion: experiment with magnifying glass and sunlight as a drawing tool to relinquish some control of the process

Questions:

  • How will this work be exhibited? Will the audience be given a light source or will you plan an installation that plays hide and seek?
    • I haven’t decided yet how this work will be displayed – Hide and seek sound like a fun consideration though
  • Would like to know more about the high tech equipment being used for this project. 
    •  At this stage I have only being using a safety pin, paper and sunlight so not very high tech at all. I am looking into using proximity sensors, LED lights and programming Arduino circuit boards to make the work directly connected to the viewer but this part of the project isn’t yet resolved.

Experiment #3:

  • Marking, force and a heavy intention; Can it be easier with colour?
  •  Breath while crying
  • “Scream Test” that was shown at Space Bodies
    • I don’t recall the Scream Test shown at Space Bodies – there was so much to take in there. I would love to have a look at the silent frames.

Sabri

  •  Possibility for “movement and breath” to be translated as a performance
  •  Highlighted the connection of drawing, light and breath to the traditional Malaysian theatre known as Wayang Kulit or shadow puppet.
    • I became a little bit obsessed with watching youtube videos of these shows after this suggestion so thank you Sabri. I also didn’t realise that the puppeteer is the one voice for all the characters in the story
  • Breathing is a major part of these performances.
    •  I am very fascinated by this traditional use of light, shadow and breath as a drawing tool as Sabri pointed out. 
  • An interesting YouTube video on how the puppets are made:
    • I was fascinated by Sabri description of the spiritual nature of the making process. They use a similar technique to the light drawings, in that the puppet makers use punching tools and rawhide that is stretched to the point of being translucent. I too find the making process meditative, often loosing my thoughts in the repetitive nature of both the piercing and breathing.
  • Suggested to look at the way William Kentridge presented his drawings – using a looking glass and moving light.

Danial

  • How does the breath as filtration affect the concept?
    • This is an interesting question Danial and not one I had considered. The idea of filtration is something I will definitely look into
  • Suggested a time-lapse film of the sun behind the drawings
  • Consider showing the area around the work in the photographs
  •  The transparent drawing brings cartography to mind and the texture brings extraterrestrial images to mind.
  • Questions the role photography has in the process and how the work is going to be displayed?
    • Photography for me is purely for documentation so I don't really see it as part of the process. However, after Andrea's feedback I am now playing around with photographing the same drawings with different light sources and in different weather conditions so it may become part of the process. 
    • I started these drawings purely as an experiment so I am not sure how they will be displayed. I was thinking about projection so that they are transformed into pure light but still thinking about other options also…
  • How do I decide if the experiments are a failure or not?
    •  I was really focusing on the light and felt that the transparent paper dispersed the light too broadly. However, most people have said to continue experimenting with this material so I have. Its not that they were failures as such – in that all experiments have their validation if you learn something from them. I was initially more interested in the strong focus of light that the other materials allowed for (not really the subject mater, just the way the materials worked together).  
  • Suggested to have a look at Schlieren photography 

 

Andrea

A general overview of all the experiments and the concept of breath:

  • The similarities for all documented drawings are:
    •  Black and white
    • Photographic quality
    • A quality of absence…the quality of memory
    • The action or ritual quality – an even pattern of action
  •  Do you hold your breath or control your breath or does the breath control you?
  •  Is breath cosmos?
  • Is breath you as a self being visible to the world?
  • Do you breath consciously when you spread the powder?
  • When is the breath part of someone else?
  • Me the watcher seeing someone else breath
  • You and the non-human agency (environment)
  • Who changes your breath gas into visible gas and/or light (sun or artificial)…who are these agency who make your work visible?

Experiment #1 & #2

  • Sun drawings
  • Ritual quality
  • Full of energy/energy circles
  • #2 – by having a human image the holes become strong and deliberate – pain?
  • What psychological meaning is behind this?
  • Who is she?
  • Holes like pixels on a computer screen – what happens when the light doesn’t come through the computer screen any more?
    •  I like Andrea’s suggestion to re-photograph the work with computer screen light/different times of the day/cloudy etc. 
  • What is light for you?
    • I have started to answer this question. Why light? What is it about light that fascinates me as a material for drawing.  I will post the list of ideas I have for this question soon.
  • What is the difference between sunlight and artificial light sources? What is Technology Light?
    • These are questions I hadn’t considered but I really value so thank you Andrea. I will take the time to really evaluate the answers to all these thought provoking questions you have asked.
  • Why using the same size pin holes? What would it mean to use different pin thickness?
    • I will experiment with this idea but for now it is very ritualistic as you mentioned earlier and the repetitive action is somehow meditative. To make conscious decisions about what pin to use or when to use it may interrupt the ritual. But I will definitely try it out.

Experiment #3

  •  A cloud of seeing
  • Nebel – German for fog. What does it mean when an image become more like Nebel? – the idea of absence – not visible but exists.
  • What does it mean to become less visible in a world full of images?
  • What is the power in the transparent paper?

Drawing Breath

  • “Movement rides on the flow of breath” Irmgard Bartenieff (research)
  • What does the powder mean to you? —is it any powder? or is it baby powder?
    • It is corn flour - which doesn't have any significance. I was just playing around with ideas for making the breath visible. 
  • What angle is your head to breath onto the powder to move it around the paper —how deliberate is that action?—could that be video documented so technology can come in as well?
  • What is your daily breath pattern? Breath in/out from nose or mouth? The skin as well takes oxygen in – cellular breathing—lungs exchange the gas but heart circulates it —both are needed to breath…

 

So many questions to ponder Andrea – thank you for such a thought provoking response! I plan on sitting down and taking the time to thoughtfully answer each of these question. 

Links suggested by Andrea:

Sean

Experiment #1 & #2

  • Changes based on the amount of light
  • Experiment 2 without the light – the texture becomes interesting
  • What would happen with different tools?
    • Fire
    • Scratching
    • Drilling
    • Tearing
    • Hammering
    • Layers
  • The anatomical images are less personal – documentation of breath as a tool to draw feels more personal

 

 

 

 

 

 

           

 

 

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