Me.

My name is Christopher Edward Ranson. I'm an artist of all sorts, who currently is studying a MA in Art and Design at Cardiff Metropolitan.

Wednesday, 5 June 2013

Drawn Off


Before I can really develop this panpsychic aesthetic, I must commit an autopsy to my own practice: committing it to a distance, recalling how it came about and the connection of others and myself to it after completion.    

To do this I have to differentiate between separate strands of my work, casting aside its intermingled nature and commit a semantic brutality on it.  

But before I make the first incision the cadavers must be displayed.
.    

(Fig. 1)


(Fig. 2)


(Fig. 3)

 

(Fig. 4)



(Fig. 5)


(Fig. 6)







First Incision 
Abstract: Having no reference to material objects or specific examples; not concrete. Derives from latin abstractus meaning; withdrawn from worldly interests. 


In these selection of drawings at least, I do not refer to any particular figure but rather what the first mark suggests, then building upon the previous suggestions until its finished, and I know it to be finished when all the space on the page is used.


Often the resulting form resembles biological form (Though Fig 1 and perhaps Fig 2 do not fit into this category) this is probably due to instinctual drawing style that has divvied constant copying of biological forms, but sometimes its due to a conscious desire to have some kind of effectual relationship with the form, by this I mean that I wish to produce a psychic resonance within myself  (often it is a sense of disgust, curiosity and wonder something akin to rummaging through leaf litter or garbage – fig 5 and Fig 4 especially).       


There is also an attempt to avoid closure, by that I mean forms that never seem complete on the page: wherever it is a form that seems in the midst of mutation (fig 5,4 and 3) or simply runs of the page and becomes bigger than the frame (fig 4 and 6). 

Another urge of mine is to find interconnectedness with the marks, by this I mean I want the marks to have an effect on one another (displacing or weaving into each other etc.), have a relationship that is hierarchical (bigger forms are less affected by other forms) or a process of animation.
    
Second Incision 
Analytical: Dividing into elemental parts or basic principles 

I often do not have a clear image to what the finished piece will look like; I tend to set myself principles that I (mostly) follow. For example with ‘fig. 1’ I decided to start from three points on the page doing five lines then moving to the next point, I also used 5 different coloured pens doing 5 different lines with each in a random order of preference. Though the unused space from the original points was something I decided during the process, due to that I found the composition more dynamic.
Apart from fig. 3 - which was essentially a doodle that developed principles, rather a play with pre-mediated principles – all my more abstracted work is derived from this process.
Paradoxically from someone who’s obsessed with pattern I despise repetition in a sense I don’t like anything that produce a sense of non-consciousness or non-dynamic behaviour. How I justify this apparent contradiction to myself, is to think about discovering a great riff while playing instrument; there is some element that makes it what it is, but playing the same riff exactly the same over and over again often causes boredom or distance from its original effect, so variations that do not remove itself from the element brings renewed interest while remain with the original element.
To sum up; constants without play are 'dull' to me.



Third Incision
 Witness: One who can give a firsthand account of something seen, heard, or experienced

Post completion I find my peers the main observation without hinting (at least with Fig 5, 6 and 3) is to point out figures from within the page for example 'that looks like two birds mating' or 'that looks like dolphin'; it therefore seems that something in these drawings invite completion from the reader. 

Second most common comment is a reference to the sense of the drawing being microcosm (often people reference bacteria under the microscope), which is probably applicable to all the drawings on show. 










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