The aim is to remove my gesture from the work, i.e. to remove conscious or subconscious intentionlity as I explored in my previous reflection on gesture. Do I need to use a mechanical aid? How could I elaborate my previous exercise works? The laundry, the skating, the cat wand – all body gestures.
Before going too much into a deep thinking how to modify, I am going towards another direction. I do like the elements and the forces of nature. And yes, I do have some issues with mechanical drawing or painting, machine or robot like. It has some connotations with the question whether machines can make art or not (a topic I will interrogate in the following exercise). I can sense that this question might have some wider impact on how I see art and my own position. During my research ‘Things perform for you‘, I do relate machine drawing with machines, e.g. Tinguely’s Méta-matic n°1 (1959).
Warboys’ sea paintings feels more relevant to me, more resonating with an humble approach of how invisible things unfold in front of us through visiualization. I am wondering whether I should move forward into areas of what I like or to explore areas of concerns, as it possibly could offer new insight? A question that became clearer during my reading of Rebecca Fortnum’s ‘Not Knowing’ article (2013).
Overall, I like the expression ‘Things perform for you’ as it is much broader then machine constructive markings. I titled this post with ‘Removing my gesture’, a title I do associate with non-subjective or external forces, literally or metaphorically.
I am going to explore three approaches:
- Performance of the elements – natural non-human derived gestures
- Cat gestures – imprints of your cat
- Ground – the surface shows what appears – laundry with the machine