— of course all moving image material primarily works with the temporal within the visual/auditory, so, per se: a video clip will address this part’s remit of exploring different uses, processes and practices around temporal dimensions within a drawing (see early thoughts on this final part here).
There are two recent clips that I took (one a set up small performance; the other one an observed occurrence), which however get to some of my interests in this.
The first one uses the focusing capability of the tracing paper to move from opaque to transfer not of shadow but of hue (which happens when contact between two materials is made). It uses my finger as the orchestrating device to achieve this.
Drawing in both of these is achieved rather differently, the second one is a strong shadow cast by a lunchtime sun; the former the slow movement of my finger pushing the tracing paper against my dress, until it focusses in on it and transfer the image and hue, it then releases again. Both are a single sequence, the second more easily looped (and indeed, the child played for a considerable time before and after this video); there is something about pace and rhythm in both of them that fascinates me and speaks not only to the course section but also the wider questions around the parallel project: of body as drawing machine, of different sites/ scales in which this can be enacted; on the question of control too.
in the shop i move the tracing paper into my tote bag, close by, to pull out without much effort. i resolve my niggling thought that i may just be littering if i place tracing paper on drawer surface and potentially leave it there.
— i turn into the street, the guys from the council were quicker than i was: cuckoo aka drawer is gone. no littering for me today it seems
One of the lines to investigate is the re-use of the paper I used for the Hornet Tree installation. I recorded it with a short video clip, just before I disassembled the poles and rolled it up:
As the banner tumbled over a few time it eventually tore in parts and I spent some time stitching it (rather than applying more masking tape).
There are also other tracing paper that have been used:
the small screen from other Green in July
a few strips of paper with drawing marks on that I used for lens/ink/diffuser in the institutional space
What am I interested in?
what role does the previous use play?
it is used: visibly with marks, tears, folds
in memory: there is a record in terms of writing, video, photography; but also as experience: in my memory; in my parents’ too; for those to whom I have talked; and those who have seen it circulating digitally.
what about the paper being blank (Hornet Tree), torn, with masking tape, thread
what traces of the installation as drawing remain? — the folds, the tears.
I can investigate these either by documentation: moving image clip; stills; or by describing in words and transcribing these/ recording these.
is there an expectation for a drawing to be visible for it to exist?
what about the function of the screen?
in monochrome: different depths, clarity, focus
on contact to transfer colour too.
Crucially: how can this be engaged with, again? I.e., what other form or potential use resides in this material (again). The theme of part 5 is timelines, proposing a series of investigations about the role and experience of the passing of time in an artwork (production/viewing/engagement) — I wrote a few first thoughts here.
So: what does an investigation of this blank paper yield? what would it be of interest?
Two investigations so far:
a. photocopying the tracing paper in the institution yields eventually this:
left: open lid; right: closed lid (maximum bleed through) of all three strips of tracing paper from lens/ink/diffuser on A3 paper, photographed side by side
this works side by side but also with the different white balance on the paper (which is in both cases the same): it is almost a day and night commentary
I can see this functioning as a photographic print but can’t just see how else this can be developed
in terms of materiality: the tracing paper is fixed: both through the lens, graphically, but more so even in the opacity of the photocopy paper: the key function of the tracing paper (to trace, to see through, to act as focussing lens) has been closed off, concluded: it in some ways presents as far as to translucency a final state.
there are however other forms this can be kept open, developed further: folding, cutting
b. unrolling and refolding tracing paper
I mocked up some lines of tracing paper (not yet wanting to ‘spoil’ the original), rolled it up and took for a walk with me. Unpacked it and started to unroll, fold, bend. It seems arbitrary, random, too forced. What I discover though are a few things:
once folded (the folds changing the property of the paper, marking it opaque), the paper can stand up. If the folds are quite small, the paper becomes surprisingly solid (loses the fragility that threatened to tear and undo the installation even at very low winds)
I included an extra photo – which on FB I called a cuckoo: the wet surface of a discarded piece of furniture: I possibly want to resite the folded paper on top of it.
investigating drawing (gh) 