Friday, December 16, 2011

One Down...

Today was frenzied but good. In the not-usual manner of Friday's in the studio day, my wife had to run out in the morning, so I was left with the youngest, ostensibly during "nap" time, so she could do her thing, and I could work. But of course the boy never naps when you need him to, so the morning was more or less shot (thank god for James, diligently toiling away).

Still, we managed to get the piece for Connecticut College done. Of course it's not really DONE done. It's done enough to go down to the basement to mature like a fine wine until it is time to ship, at which time it will be pulled out, re-examined, had any newly discovered flaws corrected, and packed away. This sounds like a joke, but the truth is, layaway time is a real thing. By the time I'm this far along in the making of a piece, I can't see it any more. I'm tired, and I'm out of patience, and I want to be done. Coming back to it ensures that I go over it with a fine toothed comb, and that it leaves the studio looking right.

Close observers may notice a few stray bits of tape on there - those are to remind me of the little areas that need to be tweaked before it goes out. All in all I'm really happy with this one. I really like the way the drop-out silhouette makes you aware of the strange depth that these pieces operate in.



Of course, there's another piece waiting in line. This one's going to be interesting It's based on Toile patterns, but I can't say more now, because it's late, and I need to go to bed. Plus, there's nothing to see here but some meticulously gridded paper that turned out to be all wrong. Good night.

2 comments:

  1. Did you consider sinking the drop-out silhouette beneath the surface of the picture plane?

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    1. Christopher,
      Sorry to be so long in relply, it never occurs to me to check my comments! To answer your question, no, not really, although now that you mention it, it's interesting to consider the possibilities. I could have cut the silhouette out of the plywood backing, really leaving a black hole in her wake. On the other hand, if I were going to do that, I think I'd need to work some kind of James Turrell-style bevel on the border all the way around, so you wouldn't see that thick cut edge. I suppose you could also route a space, and inset the element itself. I'm not sure what that would look like, but I know it would be a lot of work. Either solution would, I think, be a more dramatic statement than I was looking to make.

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