MARK MAKING - another angle

 Polyfilla and nails

Following on from the Monochrome Discipline and the work on 'Autumn'  painting (Blog 24/03), resolve to explore mark making form a different angle making marks directly into polyfilla. This also fits with my interest in 'seriality and repetition'.
( Further ref Blog Research/Gallery visit/Barbican/Raushenberg)

       Process

• mould  made which can be reassembled for a new 'pouring'- 500x300mm ply with sides to provide for 15mm depth of polyfilla
• rhythm of nails placed on 50x25mm board with guide nails to ensure clean pull through
• base treated with PVA and then filled with wet polyfilla mix and allowed to go off for 30mins
• 'nail bar' pulled through with one pass after this time
• action repeated with other moulds 

 

       Observations

• Seriality and Repetition - each piece was made in the same way but the results are markedly different, presumably due to unintentional changes in the creation process- minor difference in fill level of mould and amount of water incorporated into the original mix (it would be interesting to recreate using precise measured quantities and times to see if more accurate replicas could be produced). There is a philosophical debate to be had about the impossibility of producing totaly accurate facsimiles!

• The discipline of the line spacing is crucial to provide coherence to the piece

• The three dimensional element to the work produced a modelling through light falling on the piece which could not be achieved in paint

• How might lessons from this be transferred to paint/canvas?