Thursday, April 15, 2010

A Study of 'and'...


graphite & putty eraser/30x20cm

The title of Stendec's collected works CD, quoted from AS Eddington, providing a most appropriate(d) one for the purposes of announcing the presentation of this latest drawing to be processed in the 'roadkill' diptych series, now into its second year...

One may observe the presence of the graphic sign of an encircled ampersand upon the branded surface of the represented subject/object matter, preserved in its entirety amongst the sequence of folds into which the compressed object has been reformed, thus providing both something of a pleasing focus & a little conundrum as to what words, names, it might link, being, of course, a linguistic symbol that habitually does not exist in isolation, implying both a 'before' & an 'after'.

By way of a rather delightful coincidence, given said artist's enduring influential presence here at TOoT & in particular the flurry of recent references, note the reversed ampersand upon one of the collaged fragments of printed matter forming the ground of Jasper Johns' 1974 'Target' (it's all been done before!), as serendipitously found illustrating the cover of the 'Abbeville Modern Masters' monograph on Johns, as came to one's attention in the day job environment...


detail of Jasper Johns 'Target' 1974, including collaged reversed '&'

I'm sure, too, that one of the Moon Wiring Club's tunes features a brief chant of what sounds rather like the word 'ampersand' somewhere within its spooky depths...now there's some aural research to be done in the interests of confirmation.

Update 17/04/10:
The tune in question is 'Autumn Fair Thursday at Four' from 'An Audience of Art Deco Eyes'

Soundtrack:

Not then, perhaps, the most appropriate accompaniment under the circumstances of the subject/object matter as featured in relation to what might otherwise be available-as-referenced, but...


Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds 'Best of'
Jesca Hoop 'Kismet'
Belle & Sebastian 'The Life Pursuit'

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