Look, See

Thirty Leaves

 

 

Thirty Leaves, April 2006, HTML, 365 x 265 pixels each

Above is a GIF representation of the Thirty Leaves drawings made during April. This is not an accurate representation. In reducing this representation to 50% some of the details are lost. For example, some of the lines of the internal figures in the first drawings in the first and second rows are lost. The second drawing in the second row is unusally crunchy. As always, a compilation page has been made where you can see the drawings at full size in HTML.

These thirty drawings were made during April 2006, one each day. This practice relates to the previous two months, during which the drawings I made spanned an entire month, resulting in 28 drawings during Feburary and 31 drawings during March. Making a series that spans a month seems a good way to go because it sets me up for something that will fit on the calendar with a definite beginning and ending, and the length of the series forces me to commit to and extend something over a long time.

I didn't set out with any thought other than using this kind of winged rectangle kind of shape- a rectangle with two squares notched out of the two bottom corners. This shape echoes a series made in June 2004 called 18 Hummingbirds. This choice was influenced by the fact that in February all the dimensions of the drawings were the same shape, and each that March drawing was a different size, but they all had the animated GIF in common. The shape I chose for April could be repeated the entire month and also be something a little more dynamic than a strict rectangle, even though they didn't continue the use of an animated GIF.

It wasn't until I did the sixth drawing, Minaret, that I recognized a kind of theme, which I'll identify only by saying that the single-word noun and verb titles seem very apt to the season and month during which Easter occurs.

Wikipedia 1-28, February 2006

 

Chris Ashley: Wikipedia 1-28, February 2006, HTML, 340 x 220 pixels each

Above is a 50% view GIF of this series made during February, 2006. The idea behind these was simple: read "Today's featured article" at the Wikipedia each day during the month of February and use the the topic as the subject for a drawing. I chose a vertical rectangle, which I tend to use a lot these days. I wanted a small, compact format, and I made them all the same size. I learned a thing or two reading the twenty eight topics daily. I think I could explain how each subject is related to the day's topic, but let me be quick to point out that there is no attempt to make each drawing an illustration of the topic. These continue the use of straight and simple HTML, and employ, confront, attempt to stretch, and ultimately submit to the limitations of this medium. Lookit all the purty colors.

You can view the full-size compilation in HTML, which also lists the topic of each drawing.

Left to right, top to bottom:

1. Radhanite (*), 2006, HTML, 340 x 220 pixels

2. Adriaen van der Donck (*), 2006, HTML, 340 x 220 pixels

3. Restoration spectacular (*), 2006, HTML, 340 x 220 pixels

4. Comet Hyakutake (*), 2006, HTML, 340 x 220 pixels

5. Music of Nigeria (*), 2006, HTML, 340 x 220 pixels

6. Hurricane Dennis (*), 2006, HTML, 340 x 220 pixels

7. Sino-German cooperation (1911-1941) (*), 2006, HTML, 340 x 220 pixels

8. Sydney Riot of 1879 (*), 2006, HTML, 340 x 220 pixels

9. Mount St. Helens (*), 2006, HTML, 340 x 220 pixels

10. Apple Macintosh (*), 2006, HTML, 340 x 220 pixels

11. Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore) (*), 2006, HTML, 340 x 220 pixels

12. Gettysburg Address (*), 2006, HTML, 340 x 220 pixels

13. Douglas Adams (*), 2006, HTML, 340 x 220 pixels

14. I Want to Hold Your Hand (*), 2006, HTML, 340 x 220 pixel

15. Epaminondas (*), 2006, HTML, 340 x 220 pixels

16. Shielded Metal Arc Welding (*), 2006, HTML, 340 x 220 pixels

17. Yagan (*), 2006, HTML, 340 x 220 pixels

18. Political Integration of India (*), 2006, HTML, 340 x 220 pixel

19. James T. Aubrey, Jr. (*), 2006, HTML, 340 x 220 pixel

20. Sheffield (*), 2006, HTML, 340 x 220 pixel

21. Raney Nickel (*), 2006, HTML, 340 x 220 pixels

22. History of Merit Badges (Boy Scouts of America) (*), 2006, HTML, 340 x 220 pixels

23. Panama Canal (*), @006, HTML, 340 x 220 pixels

24. Flag of Mexico (*), 2006, HTML, 340 x 220 pixels

25. Médecins Sans Frontières (*), 2006, HTML, 340 x 220 pixels

26. History of Portugal (1777-1834) (*), 2006, HTML, 340 x 220 pixels

27. Gubernatorial Election, 2004, (*), 2006, HTML, 340 x 220 pixels

28. Edward Teller (*), 2006, HTML, 340 x 220 pixel

Wilson Pickett 1-10

 

Wilson Pickett 1-10, 2006, HTML, 460 x 460 pixels each

Left to Right, Top to Bottom:

1. Everybody Needs Somebody To Love
2. I'm A Midnight Mover
3. Funky Broadway
4. She's Lookin' Good
5. Sugar Sugar
6. 634-5789
7. Land of 1000 Dances
8. Engine Number 9
9. A Man and a Half
10. Ninety-Nine and a Half (Won't Do)

What do I need to say about this series? It's about Wilson Pickett, March 18, 1941 – January 19, 2006. It's about groovin' and movin'. I defy you to listen to Land of 1000 Dances and not sing along. I challenge you to listen to Funky Broadway and not move your feet. I doubt you can listen to his version of the bubble gum song Sugar Sugar and not feel full of the sweetest love for someone. You can't listen to Engine Number 9 and not feel... nasty. 634-5789 will make you take your hand off the wheel and clap your hands.

I left Mustang Sally off the list. And I stopped at ten. But there's much more there in the songbook. These drawings are just a l'il thang. Better to just listen to Wilson.

Untitled 1-10

 

Untitled 1-10, 2006, HTML, 505 x 650 pixels each

Occidental 1-10

 

Occidental 1-10, 2006 (Jan. 1-10), HTML, 260 x 798 pixels each

I continue to look for and find ways that these small, flat, slick, saturated, light-filled, hard-edged, site-specific HTML images have some connection to the things I'm doing on canvas and paper.

For the past year I have been making paintings that consist of four canvases, and sets of drawings that consist of five pieces. The reason behind four and five is another story, mostly intuitive, something about balance. In these works, which consist of multiple pieces, I am interested in the interrelationships of one piece to another, and of all of the pieces to the whole. Another way of saying this is that I am interested in visual narrative, though it's not necessarily a linear kind of narrative, it's more like hopscotch.

I wanted to kick off the new year by forcing the issue a bit- make some HTML drawings here that would push ahead something in the paintings. And I wanted to be forced to make variety, four times a day, over at least ten days. The challenge with this HTML work is to find something new to do; it's not that easy, actually. Not difficult in that it's hard, but difficult in that there's not a lot of leeway inside this medium.

There are moments in some of these ten sets of drawings when the four pieces become something much more together than they ever would individually. Sometimes the simplicity of the HTML drawings is enhanced by the complexity of putting one thing beside another. I can never make them be much more than what they are: small, flat, slick, saturated, light-filled, hard-edged, and site-specific. The thing for a visual artist to do is to make visual things. It's only by making and making that I can eventually make something that will stick. This day by day practice is about making something sticky, whether here or someone else.

Untitled Long Set 1-27 (Bureaus, Cabinets, Speakers & Falls)

 

Untitled Long Set 1-27 (Bureaus, Cabinets, Speakers & Falls), 2005, HTML, dimensions varied

Not only are these sculptural, but they also bring furniture to mind. I'm thinking bureaus, cabinets, speakers. The faces and verticality of these object-like images brought other things to mind, and I started thinking of long waterfalls over rock faces. They're about height and sections, and how the eye looks and moves from top to bottom, falling and rising. And let me remind the viewer: these are in HTML, so pretty stiff, crude, and blocky. Other than that... I could say more, but prefer to let your eyes do the talking. View the full-sized HTML version.

Small Set 1-13 (Bars, Hooks, Notches, Strands)

 

Small Set 1-13 (Bars, Hooks, Notches, Strands), 2005, HTML, dimensions varied

This little set started quite simply. I wanted to draw. I decided to use a long straight line with a knob at each end. Call it a hook or a notch. I just wanted to see how to use a line with a hook at each end, each using a common standard of measurement, to make a drawing. Some of these are quite figurative. Some of these I can't help but see as long-limbed muscular bodies, wigged heads, ostriches. Whatever. Others are simpler, more like fields; in these the color and images aren't a real stretch. Sometimes a series of drawings is just about making a drawing each day, trying to push ahead a bit, and not necessarily about ploughing new ground. View the full-sized HTML version.

Untitled (Blue & Green) 1-18

 

Untitled (Blue & Green) 1-18, 2005, HTML, 300 x 260 pixels each

Yet Five More Past Picks

 

These are five out of a thirty sort of "Best of" from the past nearly two years of daily HTML drawings.