Here is some recent work from my studio (in reverse chronological order):
Since my trip to Nevada, I have been thinking a lot about the way that natural structures grow or the way that erosion creates a set of fractal patterns on the earth. The new work is based incorporating ideas of fractal growth in some of the language of the tiles.
It is important to me that the language of the works is being generated by the geometry of the tiles and the principles of growth. The space of the floor is naturally incorporated into the space of the work.
Since I began thinking more about Land Art projects, I have been very interested in the idea of boundaries. In some boundary situations a series of related objects can be used to define the space of an object that has different kind of geometry. Often that geometry can be incorporated into the space of the room itself. The objects create a boundary that is not exclusive and does not comprise the individual integrity of each of its units.
New work Summer 2008
Equivalent 1, 2008
I have been working on a series of stainless steel hexagon tile fields in my studio and the Columbia River Gorge. I am able to draw with the natural geometry of the tiles by simply placing them down and also by removing them. The more tiles that I remove the more the background (or the space/ environment) becomes a part of the composition.
If there is any art in this work, it is not in any one of the tiles. One tile is not materially different than any of the other tiles. One tile removed from the field does not take a corresponding amount of “art” with it. The tiles are just tiles. It is the way that the tiles interact with the environment that is the basis of the experience of the work.
Equivalent 1, 2008
I have been working on a Project Grant to fabricate approx. 2000 of these hexagons and do four installations in the Columbia River Gorge over the course of the year.
An interesting thing happens when you take the geometry of a field of tiles that align together perfectly on a flat floor and then drape them over a rock or a log in the Gorge. The geometry between the tiles deforms according to the surface that they are placed. In other words, the tiles are an analog of whatever environment that they are placed in. You could say that the tiles inabililty to perfectly conform to a natural object produces a form of drawing that is a unique combination of the tiles and whatever they are placed on.
Equivalent 1, 2008
Recently, I have been working on a series called Equivalents, where the module of the repeating tiles creates a measuring device that can reveal the scale of a found object. In the case of the log, the number of the tiles along the surface of the log is equivalent to the length of the log. The change in the relative position/ angle of the tiles is related to the geometry of the log itself. A more complex installation might be installing the tiles so that they describe the topography of a given or the might measure the volume of a given space.
The resulting field of tiles is a collaboration between myself and the environment. The field responds to the phsyical charcteristics or topography of a site and each distribution of tiles is unique. It is a different way of drawing in the environment.
Square, 2008
Rather than drawing designs in the forest, I have found that it is important to link the position of the tiles to the environment in some way. The translation of the existing environment into a new material/ form/ approach is the basis for what I hope would be an interesting experience.
In the studio, since it is not the environment that changes, I have been interested in creating the equivalent of geometric shapes: a circle, a square and a triangle. Since the hexagons are never able to match the geometry of one of these shapes, it is the difference between the field of the tiles and the shape that creates the work. In other words, it is the hexagons are only able to the approximate one of these shapes. It is the difference the between the approximation and the actual shape that creates the work.
Triangle, 2008
It is the gap between the field of tiles and the shape that they are describing that encourages a deeper understanding of drawing and reproduction.
Triangle (Detail), 2008
Recent Studio Work
For me the new work is about drawing in reverse. Rather than drawing that is accumulation of marks, my new work is about removing and erasing. It might be scrubbing off the black paint of a canvas or remove hexagons on a field in the floor but for me the process and the intent is the same.
Most of my new paintings are divided down the middle. I was interested in exploring the natural center line division that occurs in any rectangle. One side would be covered in black paint and the other side would be erased away.
I am very interested in the idea of a painting being an object. I am interested in the texture of the canvas, the build up of paint along the edges of the frame, basically it is the physical properties of the painting. The paintings are not a window to somewhere else but a tool to make us more aware of ourselves, our space and the present moment.
I am very excited about the new floor piece in the studio. It is made of 800 identical steel tiles. Although they can be arranged in any configuration, I chose this arrangement because its suggestion of the center. As I was putting it together I was surprised to see the relationship between the tiles and the empty spaces create a density that is related to be both size and the ability of the work to integrate itself into the space of the floor. The more tiles I pull away, the larger the piece can become and the more it brings the space of the room into the space of the piece.
In this configuration, the piece integrates the entire surface of the floor into the composition of the work. The floor and the work are interconnected. Even though the work is three dimensional, I am not sure that it is quite sculptural. It seems to me like the work is more about a way of seeing and measuring the space that we inhabit.
One last idea about centering. By definition, a circle describes a perimeter in which the inside moves toward a center point and the outside is everything that exists beyond the circle. But what if the boundary could be blurred so that you were not sure where the circle started or stopped. Rather than being a mathematical definition what if it was an acculmulation of spaces. It is easy to find the center of a circle but if the edge was blurred, how would you know where the circle stops? How would you know what was not in the circle or how far the space of the circle extends into the room?
By removing the tiles and the letting the space of the floor into the space of the tiles, I am able to engage the space of the floor which brings the viewer to an awareness of the space as a whole.
Untitled, 2008
Stainless steel tiles, each about 2″ x 2″
36 x 36 inches
(c) Arcy Douglass 2008
This is a prototype of a larger piece that I am working on that will have close to 1000 tiles. The idea is that I am trying to engage the space of a room by transforming the floor. Each of the tiles are thin, about 1/32″ thick, so I am creating a new parallel surface to the floor with different optical properties: matte vs reflective, small vs. large, modular vs. monolithic, etc. As I begin to remove tiles from the construction, I am allowing the space of the room to be an integral part of the space of the piece. They are interconnected and are inseperable. The tiles don’t exist without the reference of the floor and the transformation of the floor would not exist without the tiles. It is the same language between figure and ground that is integral to the painting but in a different medium.
I have been working with only black paint now in my studio for the last 3 or 4 months. I feel like I might be finally getting the hang of it because I am learning the black paint is best when it is not really black; it is sometimes a little gray, sometimes a little brown and sometimes if I am lucky, a luminous white.
Untitled, 2008
Oil on Canvas
20 x 18 inches
(c) Arcy Douglass 2008
This is the first time that I reversed the format by making the division vertical rather than horizontal. Both sides of the canvas are scrubbed down to the canvas so the viewer is always aware of the surface of the canvas. The vertical lines allow the two sides of the painting to vibrate against one another, almost like the visual equivalent of the chant or humming.
Untitled, 2008
Oil on Canvas
18 x 20 inches
(c) Arcy Douglass 2008
A return to the smaller format. Since I liked the look of the scrubbed white portions of the paintings, I was wondering what would happen if I started working back into the black paint. The result was a beautiful silver finish that emphasizes the texture and the weave of the canvas. The painting becomes an interplay of these grays, blacks and silvers. The paintings are real objects and not about a pictorial space.
Untitled, 2008
Oil on Canvas
42 x 72 inches
(c) Arcy Douglass 2008
The next painting was a little larger about 42″ x 72″. I wanted to see what the same idea would be like on a larger scale. The ground is also much rougher in this painting because it always holds a certain amount of black paint. The texture of the ground is like a pulse that runs across the surface of the painting.
Untitled, 2008
Oil on Canvas
16 x 20 inches
(c) Arcy Douglass 2008
This is the painting that started my most recent body of work. Over the last year, I have been trying to make my paintings as simple as possible. I felt that the more I am able to get myself out of the paintings the more room I leave for the viewer. The best way for me to achieve that was a very simple, straight forward format. First, I covered the painting in black paint and then I slowly scrubbed off the black paint until I got back down to the ground. I was surprised that the bottom of the painting with the residue of the black painting seemed to be more luminous that the orginal white ground. I was hooked.
