Thursday, April 14, 2011

Trace....searchings.

With the MVA show now a trace I have been back in the studio searching for new threads...I have it in mind to construct a book so I thought I would share the process with you...the images I will show you over the next few days will be the pages before they are bound...each image will be folded in half...they may appear to be mono-types but in fact they are drawing/paintings...in two small buckets I thinned down a litho red and black ink and started making marks directly onto the paper...once the ink was dry(which was almost immediate) I then turned over each one and did the same on the reverse side...the oil based inks of course left traces on the opposite side which I worked with...then with a little more drying time I prepared a bucket of diluted bitumen...each surface was rubbed with a rag soaked in bitumen...the next process, which is still in progress. is simply adding numeric notations to the parts of each image using white and grey coloured pencils...I will reveal more of the books intention as it unfolds with each page...which really means I have little idea myself at this point in time...
I was thinking of leaving  this to a later date but I was wondering if there are any comrades out there who would be interested in sending me their own descriptions or concepts on what the word 'trace' means to them...I don't mind if they are the simplest or the most complex of meanings...even a single word...I have no intended use for them ...i am simply curious...sp.

   

5 comments:

  1. I attended a lecture, where the quote "to live is to leave traces" by Walter Benjamin was used as the opening line...I liked it allot!!!

    Glen, I'm facinated with your process here too!

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  2. of course you know the hiking rule: leave no trace. i think of this in opposition to the attitude so many have of making their mark or making noise enough to be noticed.

    trace

    trace reminds me of the time i was skiing on my land, and saw thin marks in the snow, and near some bright red spots. trace of a death, and life of the owl who ate.

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  3. These traces are like memory....

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  4. I came again to see your wonderful work. I read the comments and was surprised to see my name among them. I left a trace of my being here before. Perhaps like Hansel and Gretal some bread crumbs. I love the word "trace" and all the thoughts it brings to mind. Reminds me of the word "tender."

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  5. Glen....I've been thinking about "the trace" since you asked for reader input sometime back....this notion of the trace is the bedrock of my artmaking practice and I had actually strayed from it, so my answer for you lies in the blog post I just did, dedicated to you, your wonderful blog and this notion of the trace....you can find it here:

    http://www.missouribendstudio.blogspot.com

    Thanks so much for your wonderful work! Best wishes, Patti

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