codex infinitum - the infinite book....

my solo exhibition

opened October 10 at Switchback Gallery

lets take a tour shall we....

the gallery entrance is now guarded by my book pillars

Pulvis et umbra sumus - 'we are dust and shadow'

inside the gallery...

there are large and small photographic prints,
a large book and a small handmade book

in the middle partition is my large print...

 Ancora Imparo - 'I am still learning'

which is also the name given to the installation
recreated in the middle of the gallery..

 the installation contains the looooooong coptic bound book

codex inperfecto - the unfinished book

behind the middle partition

 hidden from initial view... 

is the large 

nec tamen consumebatur - 'and yet it was not consumed'


also in this space are 3 works from 2010...

Novus libri scientia - The New Books of Knowledge 

  Flammeus libri ardor - The fiery passion of the book 

and 

 genius loci

as well as a small coptic bound book -- carpe diem

I'll share more of what's inside this small book 

and some more of the individual works in the show

*next time*

 

so with a last look over my shoulder -- it's on its own....

...

virtues.....

I was so pleased with my recent posting at my main (public) blog site that I thought I'd bring it here pretty much unaltered.....
 

In a past post at art & etc, and here I shared a recent 'fiery' book work that dealt with the seven deadly sins - and lest everyone think I'm falling into a sea of sin I thought I'd share the 'other half' of my most recent work.....

The seven cardinal virtues*.....

This work features another (matching) set of Encyclopaedia Brittanica, hand cut paper letters, dirt, moss and lichens (gathered from the property here at Sams Creek) - again it is an ephemeral piece, it was set up, photographed then the moss was re-established in and around my garden.

Just like the vice work previously mentioned, this piece started out very differently from where it finished. Originally I thought that this piece would feature 'carved'/ cut lettering into the encyclopaedia page edges, (just as I had done initially with vices) but I changed my mind after all that time spent cutting 'vices' and I shelved this work along with the vices......waiting for the 'solution' to materialise

After I set 'vices' ablaze I knew that virtues would be a very different creature - it took a while for me to arrive at the solution - but I knew that I wanted it to 'speak' of the virtue of soil......

So I decided to cover all the page edges in yummy sams creek soil.... I thought about seeding this with grasses or the like, but I wanted to allude to something else...... so I set about gathering moss and lichens from some of my special sams creek places...

Moss and lichens are simple organisms - (and so it is easy to think of them as innocents) but their simplicity hides some of their amazing characteristics. Moss as most folk know, can only exist in moist conditions, yet many are remarkably resilient to desertification (and if they indeed do dry out, many can be 'brought back to life' with a liberal application of water). Lichens on the other hand are not really plants (and they certainly aren't animals!) - they are found in some of the most inhospitable environments - and so when I imagine the future, where most other life-forms may be fried by climate change, maybe the little lichen will live on..... but then it's important to also remember that lichens glean all of their nutrients from the air - so they are particularly vulnerable to pollutants..... Perhaps it is better to think of moss and lichens as the harbingers of environmental truth.....

and anyway I like lichens, and moss, with its moist, delicious, green fecundity is just a delight to behold! But as much as I like moss and lichens - many people find them pesky..... moss on pavers is not so much fun...

Suffice to say, depending on where you are coming from, moss and lichens may be considered either good or bad.....


and I like to think this mirrors ideas about information and 'knowledge'...

* Seven Cardinal Virtues (with English translation)

Patientia - PatienceTemperentia - TemperanceHumanitas - KindnessIndustria - DiligenceHumilitas - HumilityCastitas - ChastityCaritas - Charity

Each one of the seven cardinal virtues is meant to counteract one of the seven deadly sins - so patience conquers wrath, charity defeats greed, temperance beats gluttony, humility wins over pride, kindness overcomes envy, and of course chastity whacks lust......

...

more binding....

Just before heading off to the symposium I started preparing pages for another long and large coptic bound booklet - this time created from the entire set of childcraft annuals..... which will be arranged according to spine colour, of course.....

vices (the seven deadly sins)

Towards the end of last year I began meticulously cut/carving a set of Encyclopaedia Brittanica. My idea was to carve the seven deadly sins* into the set.

It took months of hard labour to get all seven words completed (these are not laser cut, but are created very slowly by hand) - the first step was to create calligraphic lettering - this was transfered to the encyclopaedia volumes and then the words were carefully cut with a scalpel, a few pages at a time - after the initial cutting, the page edges are then sanded.... (have you ever sanded the edge of a page? crazy!)

I completed the cutting/carving late last year and (hoe-hum) was less than thrilled the results of all that effort..... I felt that the end result didn't capture anything other than my clever technique......


so after a few months hiatus (the cut volumes languishing on my studio bookshelves) I knew what needed to be done.....

they needed to be set on FIRE!!!!!

NOW they encapsulated the idea of SIN.......

and given that I had been thinking about Dante's Inferno and the Nine Circles of Hell (many of which neatly overlap with the seven deadly sins....) AND my previous fiery works I'm surprised that I hadn't considered this action much earlier...... I think perhaps I needed to distance myself from all the labour - to divest it of preciousness in order to do what was 'right' for the work.....


When I set fire to the set I was primarily thinking about (hopefully) capturing a few great shots - and that these would then become the work (as in prior fire/book pieces - the documentation ended up becoming the artwork - not the ephemeral sculpture/ interaction) I was in for a second surprise with this piece - as I found I really like the smelly, charred remains of the books....

I'd love to see these installed, at some later stage, in a pristine white interior - no doubt releasing a little of their knowing sin (and ash-dust pages) to all and sundry.....






* the seven 'deadly' sins rendered here in Latin (with english translations) are:

ira (wrath)
luxuria (lust)
gula (gluttony)
avaritia (avarice/greed)
invidia (envy)
socordia (sloth)
superbia (pride)

you will no doubt notice that only 4 of these are visible in the pics shown - that's because the first three on the list are carved into the top or head of the books.

fire and water....

Books and water and fire......

... has always seemed like a good combination...... fire and water have opposing qualities that I'm keen for my work to allude to...

the recent rain events created the perfect (temporary) environment to create water works (these 2 shots represent my picks from an extensive ph0tographic session - but as I learned in previous 'fire' works - editing is integral to my process).

I enjoy how these complement my previous 'codex incendium' tower (or vertical) fire books - the reflection of fire books in water is definitely worth the effort of construction and setting ablaze.






(I have blogged a little about this on my public site. I've also used another from this series as my new blog header)

winter symposium and home again

Over the last week I've been down to my uni (gippsland) campus and back again - a 1300+ km round trip - but one that essentially I only need to make once a year - for the annual winter symposium

For the last four years I've been making the pilgrimage - initially as a Master of Visual Arts student - and now for the first time as Master of Fine Arts creature. I've come to really enjoy the time spent with fellow students - and getting to know the monash teaching staff is a bonus!

This year I got to spend some quality time with my new supervisor - susan purdy - and I've got to say I couldn't be happier with our pairing. Her work is incredible and her gentle manner is ever supportive and insightful. I hope we get to remain together for the duration of my project!


The main reason for heading off south for four days is to present and 'speak to' your work - and I felt both nervous and excited to be showing off what I've been up to (this was the work's first real audience) - so over the next bit I'll be posting some of the works shown and give a little of the commentary (some said during my presentation - some that evolved from the following group discussion - and some that I've until now kept to myself) - I've already posted some pics of recent work - and a short post about the fun had over on my general blog

the new book of knowledge

* I was quietly pleased with the way this piece worked out - I think its one of my most successful photographs (primarily from a technical point of view) and I'm happy that the results reflected my intentions..... the unusual colour and name of this set of encyclopaedias (the new book of knowledge) made them perfect for the piece.... I love how the book reflection is jagged (a light wind and fast shutter speed combination) and way the light hits the top and sides of the books and creates the jagged white line in the water on the right. As I explained at gippsland - I am predominantly interested in using photography to document my ephemeral work - so although I'm using a DSLR, I'm uninterested in photoshop fiddling after the fact...... I believe my photographs need to stand 'as they are' (so I don't do retouching) lest something of the experience or truth of the works be lost......

decisions....

One of the (many) things that has cropped up since making the decision to include a blog as part of my research project has been - just when to post what....... I seem to be unsure about the act of simple posting - (the sort of thing that I do at my main blog - the sort of thing that drives blogs really - where posts work almost like a journal or conversation amongst friends..... with just a little editing..... )

in a remnant puddle of the disappearing waterway

I opened an encyclopaedia science year book to an entry on photosynthesis....

and then set the pages on fire.....

Here, I have felt a compulsion or the perceived necessity to include a commentary or background.... and as such I have avoided posting things until I have the time or inclination to do just that - to add all the extraneous bits..... but this seem sadly not in keeping with either the spirit of a blog - or indeed the manner that visual art production occurs.....

What's more I've been holding over some works completed whilst profiling other things - so that whilst this may help to show how a thread of my working/research is progressing - the work in my posts appears non-sequentially..... (arguably, however, this is just what happens when curating an exhibition..... the order that work is completed may be of little or indeed no consequence to the overall ordering of work in a space..... but here in blog-land I'm wondering if working with the time-stamping might not be useful...)


So I'm going to try something else.... I'm going to see what happens when I post in a more random, rambling manner..... oh it might all become a dreadful scatty mess! and I'm sure that it will not approach the 'rigour' required of academic reporting... but perhaps it may do something else.... it may yield something closer to the actual unfolding of art-making/research/writing and conversational blogging.... and through this process the blog may be a tool or method as well as a product or form...


and anyway - I'm posting all my highly researched and edited formal written pieces in here..... they can always be a touch stone for the more rigorous aspects of written work.....

back to the creek

Recent rain has meant the creeks are flowing again in the area.... and one little stream here at the sams creek property only runs for a few days after very heavy rain (which means it can be years in between appearances). Last week was one of those rare times - so it was time to take an encyclopaedia out for a walk.....

or rather, for a dunk in the soon-to-be-gone-again stream....


(naturally the page is opened to the entry on the water cycle)

preliminary paddock work...

I'm posting these without much comment... they are my initial book/land interaction (shot a couple of months ago) - in this case working with part of the beef herd - at the height of the drought our young vealers (and their mothers) required hand feeding twice daily.... I wondered if taking a book to this action might come to something....







I won't be pursuing this further - not only am I unconvinced that this is the direction I want to follow - just days after taking these pics the heavens opened and we had a flood, followed 10 days later by a second (bigger) flood.... the troughs were filled with water, the surrounding area became a quagmire of mud and despite not having adequate green feed growing, hand feeding the animals became impossible.

more circular forms...

I have continued with my creation of coptic bound circular book forms from childcraft annuals - with what I consider mixed success.... I trialled ideas about double folded page sections: where each contains a main fold (to become the sewn spine) with an outer fold to display the colour sorting of the pages to best advantage....


In the first piece I merely folded over the covering page and did not secure it by any means - it's held in place by the close interaction of the sections.... the piece has a nice enough feel to it (and I really like the way the colours work) - but I wondered if there might be a better way to capture this idea.....

circular bookform created from 'the green kingdom' volume of childcraft
outer dia approx 140mm

so I tried a larger version with the folded pages secured by a drawn thread line (not really visible in this shot)..... I wasn't really happy with the results...

circular bookform created from 'look again' volume of childcraft
outer dia approx 170mm

I refined my idea and process (and selection of pages) and came up with what I believe is a more elegant expression of the idea....

circular bookform created from small section of 'the green kingdom' volume of childcraft
outer dia approx 220mm

the loose form, tight inner circle (which made it a very challenging to bind!) and the rolled outer edges all help make this, rather than the other 2 versions, a more successful outcome.


I still see these however, as being more akin to meditations, doodles or 'sketches' (certainly not as maquettes though!) rather than things that I will make it to my MFA examination exhibition.... The process of creating these is helpful though - I (maybe strangely) find the laborious process quite calming - as the process helps me to clarify my ideas regarding making/remaking books whilst my fingers are kept busy.

circle booklets

As a continuation of my play with coptic binding and form I've taken to my collection of childcraft volumes and have created coptic bound circular forms....

volume 15 - the guide for parents - bound in a simple circle (dia approx 35cm)

volume 14 - about me - (part one) - again bound as a simple circle (approx 12cm dia)

(sections prepared and sorted ready for binding part two of the about me volume)

volume 14 - about me - 2 coptic bound forms

(detail of yellow bound spine )

I have informally posted and chatted about these on my home blog site....

intial (booky) works

I have been playing with form in my initial MFA works - these first pieces are each made from a World Book encyclopaedia 1984 Year Book (my last year of high school). In both new books the sections (collection of folded pages) are created from a single page of the original book - coptic bound to form a closed circle.

the first book form has been bound with a twist to create a mobius strip

the second is bound as a circle - an infinite loop
and when I've been playing with the malleable form
I liked it best when arranged in this manner....
echoing an infinity symbol

I'm pleased with the two forms... but wonder if the huge amount of labour is worthwhile (each one of these takes about a week of consistent work to complete) - I'm not sure how much an audience can understand the process involved in making - coptic binding is the earliest form of bookbinding and dates back to the beginning of the codex as we recognise it today (more than 2000 years) - a book structure consisting sewn sections to create individual pages....

the process of binding these structures has become a strangely meditative one for me - and I think of these almost as warm-up exercises - and the end result as small sketches

equally however, as I'm binding more and more structures of this nature, I can envisage them all together in some way - perhaps components of an installation?.... for now I'll just continue exploring ideas of form through the process of binding...