To create a wall plane art, free from picture-plane and frame …. to revive seeing as an instantaneous, ongoing, physical awareness - a dance of attention between elements, properties, and place …. to extend Cezanne’s ‘non finito’, Mondrian’s ‘DeStijl’, and Rabinowitch’s ‘Construction of Vision’ as paths towards a concrete, continuous comprehension. Although I use computers in my creative process, my work is anti digital in a time of its growing influence in how we see.

Conscious Seeing - “We see immediately and continuously with our whole bodies. Pictures are for the head.”  (James Gibson)  

Using wall plane applications made from washi, art papers and other light responsive materials I create an array of elements held within a viewer’s field of vision.  Eclipsing relations and oppositions between elements and their properties can both create and destroy an array’s appearance.  Changing appearances within an unframed field can heighten awareness of our ‘making’ of a work’s ‘poetic’ unity. 

Poiein/poiesis (to make Gr.) "the activity in which a person brings something into being that did not exist before.”

Recognizing our unifying ‘making’ force in seeing can draw attention to our participation in what we consider to be “real”.  This in turn can present “reality” as a cultural construction, a process of collective “realization” through perception, imagination, and language - changing and evolving over time. 

Our awareness of seeing itself as the creative force in Art is subdued by the dominance of the bounded ‘picture plane’ that unifies, subordinates, and isolates its contents both before and after ‘seeing’.  Any identity formed from our engagement with the infinite energy of the universe and its looming sheens of appearance comes from within.  “Where man is not Nature is barren”.   William Blake

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“We evaluate artists by how much they are able to rid themselves of convention, to change history,” Richard Serra

Against interpretation:  not an explanation for “that”  … for direct perception and play, an ongoing participation in “this”

" It must be abstract.  It must change. It must give pleasure.” (from Wallace Stevens' poem 'Notes towards a Supreme Fiction' ):

“A war between the mind and sky” (Wallace Stevens)   field of light ) ( light of mind    

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field of light:   An equivalent to Monet’s “Envelope” --  "For me, a landscape does not exist in its own right, since its appearance changes at every moment; but the surrounding atmosphere brings it to life - the light and the air which vary continually.  For me, it is only the surrounding atmosphere which gives subjects their true value."  Monet      

 Can awareness of Monet’s "envelope"  be made directly present in art, rather than through representation?

Arrays are designed to engage a flat white wall as an open ‘ground’ for element applications and a reflector of ambient light.  I am not interested in a theatrically lit "White Cube", just a sufficient wall space with adequate light from different sources.  Ambient light:  reflected - diffused - absorbed

light of mind:  judgments of sameness and difference between elements and their properties, alignments, proportions, and locations. —  a coherence and decoherence of relations across time within the unifying presence of the field of light.

An extent of appearance - not a content of recognition

field of light ) ( light of mind    (polarity: mutually generative force of oppositions)

“Extent”: a polarity between an array’s expanding outness in the field of light (vertical and horizontal extension) -- and its cohering inness in the directed light of mind. (focused intention) 

the visual field as a process of transaction between boundary and intimacy (peripheral and foveal - physiognomic?)

an ornament becomes art when it appears to generate its ground as place, and when this ground presents its ornament as particular.  i.e. Some Romanesque capitals appear to be the source of their vaults while the convergence of vaults to their column accentuates the uniqueness of each capital.

a process of individuation  -- In Art, mind and matter coexist.  Perception is an ongoing act of measure that enables existence of both perceiver and perceived. --  anti "picture" (i.e.  the picture as object....a frozen window to an imagined place.)  anti essence?  A polarity is an anti essence ?

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( tangents and elaborations on these initial thoughts have been temporarily removed)

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Element mounting for “Array”, “Bedouin” and “Atlantic” artworks:                                         

My goal is for you to create ‘a thing in place’.  This requires enough space around an installation to provide awareness of what I call “Extent” in seeing.    

Wall Plane preparation:   Create a smooth flat wall, painted matte white or a very slight grey off-white – a slight sheen is ok.  Rough or non-flat walls and textured or flaky paint will not work for attaching array elements.  

Have a clear clean horizontal surface to prepare elements for mounting.

Carefully detach array elements from folder for installation.   The folder attachment tapes may be reused or replaced with acid free tape when necessary.

Tools and Supplies for mounting:  Tools: tape measure, small level, ruler or straight edge, sharp hard point erasable pencil,  small ¼’’ flat brush for applying glue and making element edge corrections, small hard roller, plastic palette knife for removing elements   Supplies:  Nori glue - - removable acid free artist tape - water sprayer with distilled water - - water for cleaning brush - paper towels - touch up wall paint if necessary –  -        ( art handlng gloves?)

Element placements:  Use installation photo on storage envelope to position elements according to dimensions.  Place large main elements first. Use small bulb level to check that vertical and horizontal edges are level.  With sharp H pencil lightly mark corner and edge locations of each array element on the wall.  (some of the smaller element positions can be made after the larger elements are installed)

Array element installations:  follow order of elements for installation.  

Place element #1 face down on table.  With palette knife lightly scrape edges from any previous glue residue. 

·       Use 1/4“ flat brush for glue application and correction.  Apply unthinned glue on path between element edge and the pencil line. It can go over the pencil edge a little. ).  Even out glue with brush so there are no thick lumps.  (Glue should not be thick or thin).

·       Accurately place element on its wall location. When glue is wet it is possible to slide element into its right position. When positioned smooth element from center out lightly with hand to begin attachment to wall.  Continue with other elements in order.

·       Check location, level, and alignment of elements (glue takes a while to dry). Then gently go over each element with roller to flatten and seal edges. Roll from the center out to edges. Do several times to get element as flat as possible. Remove any excess glue with paper towel.  Check placement accuracy, adjust if necessary, and roll again to secure adhesion and flatness. Very lightly spray center of element with distilled water.  This will buckle the paper slightly but when dry it will stretch the paper flat like a drum head. 

·       Clean off any excess glue on wall with damp paper towel. Glue will take over an hour to dry.  

·       Some element edges that lift may need to be taped to the wall with artists tape until glue dries. (tape 1/8” over edge of element)

Corrections:  As the paper elements dry some edges may lift from the wall.  This can be corrected by using the small flat brush to push a little Nori glue under the released edge. Flatten it with a paper towel and the roller. Wipe away any excess glue with a damp paper towel. Dry the area and use artist tape to hold just the edge in place until glue is dry.  When dry remove tape carefully.  Pull away flat against wall.

Objects and Linear Elements:  Object and linear elements can be attached with same system. 

Removing and Storing Elements:  Starting at the bottom of array use small plastic spatula to lever elements away from wall.  Find an edge to get blade tip under and release by twisting spatula to break the glue adhesion rather than slicing under edge.  Glue should separate from the element and mostly remain on the wall.  If there is any remaining glue on element edges, it can be scraped away with palette knife or razor edge.   Glue remaining on wall can be mostly scraped away with razor blade and then completely wiped away with a wet sponge.

Carefully return and attach elements to storage envelope in their locations.  

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Why go to all this trouble to decorate a wall?!!  “Extent” is my attempt to reveal through Art that our perception is broader than the ‘things’ we see and that we participate in what we see as our acts of unification and location expand and contract.  By engaging arrays and their placement in an open field our ongoing creation in seeing can come alive and free from picture planes and frames.  

The Nordic origin of the word “thing” is ‘assembly’ or ‘meeting’. 

“To restore silence is the role of objects” Samuel Beckett. …… a silent assembly -- a thing in place!