Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Work in Progress II



This is a new stage of the same drawing I posted in June (Work in Progress).
It meant so much to me when LIz picked up on my intention to break down figure/ground distinctions in her comments on it, and when Mike saw the relationship of the drawing to my ideas about us all being a part of one mind. Hopefully I'm still developing those qualities. What else is it evoking for you now?

7 comments:

Zachariah Bauer said...

I think its really great to be able to see the progression of one of your drawings over such a period of time. Is this upside down from the one you originally posted? These sound waves you've got in all the recent drawings I've seen are really mesmerising. And i don't know what it is, but the wrinkles in this piece give me a really weird feeling in my stomach, mostly when i look at them up close. The green haze coming out of it might attribute to that feeling.

By the way, have you asked your current illusionism class if they'd like to join the blog? I think it'd be really great to see more people posting their work on here, and to have the ability for a conversation between past and present students to erupt.


p.s. the asian girls painting is just about done. I've got the HUGE paper stretched for my imagination Army piece. Now i just need some sort of composition/color sketches nailed out right quick.

Susan Waters-Eller said...

It's right side up, but it has changed enormously.
I'm very interested in the feeling you're getting in your stomach (even though it sounds like nausea) from the wrinkles in the drawing. I've always tried to affect the physical body. It's something illusionism does well since it's concerned with sensation.
I'm thinking it would be good to invite past students from advanced illusionism to join the blog. It would be a way for them to stay in touch. I've told the current class about it, so hopefully they'll offer their comments soon.

Michael J DiMotta said...

It's interesting because it can be interpreted in many ways, I almost see it like a radar system with in submarines or bats. Though all in al,l I always am reminded of your "one mind".

Interesting how the largest vibration or ripple are the fainest (as if it were unconsicous) in contrast to the other ripples, while much smaller, are being affected more intensely.

Someone was saying (again) the other night at dinner how wierd it is how intensly someone will pop into your head before they call or you bump into them.. but when you tell the person "It's SO wierd I was JUST thinking about you before you called" The other person will faintly say "..Really?..funny.."

ashley kimbro said...

I can tell that you are moving ahead to a new dimension with this piece. Some of the vibrations are more powerful than others an some are brighter.
I can definitely pick up Mike's observation about them all being part of the whole. The "big brother" of vibrations. I feel like some of the vibrations are beginning to have their own piece of mind. Some can become good or bad. And some have the potential to take over and begin a new cycle. The piece seems very cyclical to me. Thanks for posting this piece Susan. i remember you mentioning it when we last saw eachother. you've definitely taken a different route with this one I feel (in comparison to those in the show). Keep posting the updated versions, I'm really excited to see where this one will go!

liz said...

I agree with everyone - it really is great to watch these unfold. Zach's point about sound waves is wonderful - especially because I feel I perceive these images in a way that confounds my expectations for my experience of art and visual play and my own five (?) senses. I look at them and sort of feel very quiet. Like the work demands a lot of attentiveness, but not in some pushy sense, just in the sense that it really engages us to focus and use more of ourselves. Maybe in a hypnotic way, which I'm sure has to be going on here too. I also sort of have to face my own nature here, or habit or whateveryoulike to try and act on the work, in a logical way, in a brain way, because here these impulses find they are consistently deterred. So the image acts on me instead, which I really like. Ashley mentioned the dispositions the work starts to take on, which I really see. Emotional tones.

I remember in class we talked about hearing as a touch-based sense. Which was like.. wait, really? Hearing things involves being touched? It gives me the same kind of feeling (and Zach's stomach apparently too) to look at these drawings. Really speaking to our responses as organisms to stimulus - in a way that doesnt seem to be about answers but about surprises. Thanks Susan. Can't wait to catch them in person next time!

Hope all is well with everyone! Cheers

Susan Waters-Eller said...

Every one of these comments has had a profound influence on the work I've done on it since. I stopped working on it while comments were accumulating and got addicted to a very different new drawing(graphite on paper and duralar). Last week I dragged myself away from it to take some time with this one, and the time off and your wonderful comments led to unexpected changes. I hope to post it at the end of next week. Thanks so much for your help.

ashley kimbro said...

ooh, Susan please post some jpegs of your graphite and duralar work. Would love to see that as well.

Thanks, glad to contribute-

Ashley