Throughout the holidays i have been making work involving stains and marks. Because i couldn't physically work on the table top that i wanted to over the holidays which had a lot of paint stains, i decided to take pictures of the table top and work with the marks using Photoshop. Because the table is circular i intuitively decided to work with the marks and repeat them in a circle too. For me a circle is a very strong sign! It links in with astrology, mandalas, sun, space, and also is a protective symbol. For me the circle also represents life cycle, time and infinity which i focus on! So the more i worked with the marks and repeated them in a methodical kind of way the more i thought about mandalas. What are mandalas, what they are about and where they come from.
Mandalas are used for meditation purposes allowing the individual meditating to become one with the universe. A Mandala represent wholeness, a cosmic diagram reminding us of our relation to infinity, extending beyond and within our bodies and minds. The Hindus were one of the first people to use a mandala as a spiritual tool, but the mandalas most individuals are familiar with, are ones made by Buddhists. The mandala is primarily use as a form of meditation to gain knowledge from within.
These are some of the Photoshop experimentation that i did using images of the table top! I added some color to them based on the color of the original mark that i decided to repeat.
I love how a table full of mark and stains which are messy and unorganised and just left there to sit on the table, can change to something beautiful with a purpose and form something special, showing the beauty of the original mark that was used. The interaction between me and the marks is what really interests me. A mandala not just made by my imagination but using the physical information to work with my decision of which mark i will choose and how i would like to repeat it. Each mandala in return becomes something unique and hard to replicate.
This is my further experimentation but this time drawing onto acetate and working with the real table top.
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White pen on acetate |
Although i try and repeat the mark evenly each time, so it looks visually symmetrical you can still see some human error in them because they are done by hand. Process of actually creating them by hand is very important to me. Looking at the photoshopped piece i realise that i don't really consider them as work but something that i have made to pass time while i didn't have the opportunity to work with the actual table top. It allowed me to experiment and think more deeply into why i enjoy producing work that requires my hands. The photoshopped pieces of work although engage with the marks on table visually, they don't engage physically, it allows less human error to occur which i believe the most important part of actually engaging with the paint marks.
Because the paint marks are not perfect and very spontaneous i feel as though my interaction with them cant be perfect too. This led me to think of nature and natural formations in nature which have symmetry and repetitive patterns which still aren't perfect visually. Looking into nature formations such as sea shells, snowflakes, stones and each one of them isn't perfectly formed. There are some "errors" that happen naturally and allowing these "errors" to occur in my work it shows my human error and links me in with nature, life and existence. So these imperfections in my own work just show the beauty of human error and that's why i consider physically produced work beautiful and not work that is made digitally.
My next step will be ordering some see- through perspex the size of the table top and then working with the marks from the middle point out using a white pen or tippex pen. Working my way from the middle point. Very excited and cant wait to start! The process will be very repetitive but that's the beauty of it. I will listen to some spiritual meditative music to accompany my journey! Will help me to get the best out of the process and will allow me to really concentrate on the marks and circle!
~Ev
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