Look, See

Three Edges (Black) VIII

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three Edges (Blue) VII

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three Edges (Gold) VI

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three Edges (Gray) V

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three Edges (Rose) IV

 

 

 

 

 

 

Visual Problems & Solutions (Rudolf's Diner, June 2004)

 

 

Visual Problems & Solutions (for Rudolf's Diner, June 2004)

The making of any visual arts, or any art for that matter, is always about solving problems. Whether it's how to depict an object, how to use color, how to convey meaning through an image, or even what to make art about, an artist is is alway confronting problems, asking questions about what to do, and posing possible solutions, which leads to more questions and, hopefully, more solutions.

Nearly four years ago I began writing in a weblog almost everyday. My original weblog, which is now not on the web, began as a nine month experiment in educational technology as part of my work with the UC Berkeley Interactive University Project, an initiative to make university resources accessible and useful to the K-12 world using Internet technology. It wasn't long, though, before my writing turned to more personal content. And then it wasn't much later that, being an artist, I wanted my weblog be a place to post images.

I knew that I wanted the images to be lightweight, meaning not ony that they downloaded quickly, but that somehow I didn't want to be a maker of digital images. I didn't want to get involved in using graphic software, as I'm no great fan of digital imagery; there is something inherently untrue about digital images that simply does not appeal to me. In addition, I didn't want to create additional graphic files in addition to the web page beause of the need to upload and host the images separately. I didn't want to make photographs; I'm not a photographer, and I'm not able to frame things well through a camera anyway. However, knowing HTML fairly well it occurred to me that by using this simple code I could make tables that are rows and columns of colored cells, and that I could work in the language of somewhat minimal, non-representational imagery, a form with which I already had lots of experience and for which I have a great interest and affinity. The beauty of this was that the image itself only existed as code, and was embedded in the webpage so that no additional files needed to be created or loaded.

I already knew how to make hand-coded HTML tables, but given the potential complexity of code required to make an image I knew that I could make these drawings fairly quickly in an HTML editor. For all their supposed simplicity, it's not as easy as it looks; the hardest part is, of course, the question of what what to make.

HTML can be fairly straightforward medium. For example this string of code
will be rendered by a web browser as a black square 100 pixels high and wide:

<table bgcolor="black" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"
border="0" height="100" width="100"><tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr></table>

But there are also extreme limitations to what one can do with HTML: everything is on the grid, right angles only, no diagonals; everything is hard edged; there are a limited number of colors (216 web safe colors; although one can make more than 216 colors, the number of colors actually viewable varies a lot from monitor to monitor); because the color is seen from a constant light source (the monitor) it tends to always have the same intensity and saturation; it is impossible to depict texture; and an image larger than one can see on a monitor without scrolling isn't very effective. The most difficult thing is pushing to find slight variations so that the medium sustains an expressive, ongoing art practice. It is this restrictiveness, though, that I find quite freeing. I enjoy the limitations and boundaries because I am presented with a set of solutions that I can't do anything about, that I accept.

The weblog in which I learned to make what I have come to call HTML drawings, A Place to Work, Nothing Fancy, ran for three years, during which I created several series of drawings. I have found that a weblog can a very effective work space that, for my purposes, became a studio, gallery, and archive, Last fall 2003 I decided to retire APTWNF and move my educational technology writing to AtWork, and my drawing activities to LookSee, where I've recently worked through several series of drawings.

Recently I found myself posting images of old paintings of mine. One painting, Untitled, is from 1981 . I found it interesting to look back at this painting, to remember making it, and also to feel how relevant it is for me now, and I began feel it feeding and motivating me. This painting is composed of several canvases, which do not line up to make the painting an overall rectangle. Instead, the composition is more like a cross turned on its side. I nicknamed the painting "Hammer."

One of the things I experienced when looking at this painting was seeing how two panels, one narrow blue panel on top of an identically-sized black panel, created a kind a movement and tension, a visual instability or slippage, and at that moment it so happened I was feeling a personal, emotional instability, even an inability. This gave me the idea to make a series of HTML images of things not quite connecting or aligning, and I wanted to work through these in the hope that I could make images with this kind of tension, while also working through my own "slippage." I called this series "Don't Know How," and I hoped by making them I would figure out how to do something, both visually and emotionally. There are two sets of nine, each drawing made one day at a time over eighteen days. Set 1-9 is below (click image to view in HTML). Set 10-18 can be viewed at LookSee.


I make one HTML drawing everyday and post it on my weblog. It has become a habit, a practice, and by doing it everyday it's interesting how the drawings accumulate, how I move from one to the next, repeat things, and find new things to do. By working in series I have developed a large body of work that I often refer to and think about how to reuse. In this sense my weblog is a sketchbook, and I have been working through making images that deal in content beyond just form and color, but also about people, places, feelings, attitudes, and memory in a restrictive medium.

For awhile I have wanted to begin using the HTML imagery in paintings and drawings of a more traditional type. This has actually been quite difficult, as there are a lot of questions to answer. How much should a painting or drawing mimic or replicate the HTML drawing? How will I handle edge and surface? In cases where I have emulated a kind of overlay or transparency in HTML, do I want to draw or paint this with mixed color or by laying one transparent color over another? Using paint I have much more nuance availabe in terms of color and touch; do I want to mimic the intensity of monitor color in the HTML drawings? The HTML drawings are based on a grid; do I want move away from the grid to something more handmade? And so on.

The following six images are small studies I made to help me begin to tackle
the problem of answering these questions. I know that I will only be able to solve these problems by making these images over and over in a variety of media. All drawings are May 2004, and can be clicked to view a larger version.

 

Chris Ashley lives in Oakland, is a former teacher still working in education, draws in his personal weblog "LookSee" everyday, and writes in his work weblog "AtWork."

 

 

 

 

Three Edges (Purple) III

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three Edges (Green) II