As I’ve said before, It’s a matter of doing things indoors while waiting out the season.
A few tentative results have come up in the interim. One is a bundle of gender symbols composed of walnut, mahogany and oak pieces that I’ve had around since I dressed as a younger man. The other is a serendipitous product made up of mason’s lath, a basic building material that I ran across at the hardware store.
These pieces are intertwined one circle through another to form a closed loop. Again, this is changeable as the mutual relations of the pieces depend upon which individual is picked up or hung on the wall. Makes me think of a story whose narrative, and the outcome of which, would depend upon a given word or paragraph being chosen in a programmed context.
Folks have suggested that the pieces of such a loop be painted and otherwise decorated in order to enhance meanings. I’m proceeding carefully along that path, mindful of the potential existing in the shapes and inherent hues as they are.
Now for the lath. It’s made of aspen and split along one axis to give a rough and somewhat unpredictable surface. Each piece of lath is thin and light. I have been painting these individually and laying them up plankwise in a somewhat ragged manner. The assemblage employs the scissor jack motif that I’ve been using. The points of connection are also somewhat ad hoc so that the “planks” tend to lay upon each other as they will – this facilitated by their thinness. The lath gives off a feeling of friendliness. Pity that so much of it gets buried in plaster walls.
Comments? Suggestions?
Jay,
You illustrate well the tangled nature of gender relations in your unique way. A thought that just occurred to me, and that might allow a less dense tangle (if desired), would be to enlarge and distort the circular parts. Maybe these could take on individual “body shapes” that implied personalities.
The laths recall some geometric Native American designs.
I published the following post before I noticed yours, having started writing it before yours was up. Interesting coincidence that you contemplate an artistic outcome dependent on a “programmed context.”
Steve:
Maybe a humongous lath thing should be erected relative to the interstices of one of those Canyonlands cliffs in a manner evocative of the rock huts you posted.
For some reason the “dense tangle” makes me think of cartoon depictions of people fighting where everything is a ball of directional energy with pieces flying about. It feels as though the gender thing – if to be a dense ball – should have a lot of pop to it, naked and with a liberal application of oil. Sinusoidal comes to mind. How about a symbol designed by each participant of A&P which I would cut out and assemble?
How did you decide what type of wood should symbolize a given gender? Fabulous grains and hues. so rich.
What a challenge to think up my own symbol.
The lath piece does funny things to my eyes. They keep moving around, trying to find a place to rest but then tempted to circle again. Is this serendipitous or did you plan it that way?
Birgit:
I’m tempted to make up a tall tale about the selection of wood, but it was simply a matter of what filled the bill.
The criss cross patterns that come up with the scissor jack motif keep me moving around as well. I simply lined the planks up and made some rudimentary decisions about what would cross what. Call it plandipitous or maybe serenplanitous.
I haven’t come up with any specs for the individual symbols. Something with well developed edges that can be cut out on a scroll saw would work best.
plandipitous!
An expression to be remembered.
Jay,
As is sometimes the case, I have trouble following your ideas. But your art is clear enough, even when it’s tangled. And I’ll admit to shuddering at the tangle. It seems preposterous to me that gender relationships should still be as knotted and unhelpful as you depict them — after all, I’ve been untangling my own all these years. But of course, Jer may have a different story.
The lathe is lithe and winsome. Bringing it out and painting its face may result in it becoming tangled in its own way. Pick-up sticks, indeed.
You see, you bring out the absurd in me.
June:
I believe that is true. And what might Jer’s story be?
Now did you really shudder at my tangle? Gender is a rich vein to mine, but I can also go with buyer/seller relationships, the intergenerational, predator and prey etc.
Jay,
I actually did shudder at your tangle. The symbols have long been a part of my milieu and placed in this configuration (or something like it) they feel claustrophobic.
Maybe they are pornographic? Certainly the tangle denies the graphic design quality that the original symbols carried. Although I suspect your punnish mind jumped instantly into some tangle of graphic art and off you go to porn and tangles.
But seriously, the tangle makes me shudder. Which might be a useful response for you to consider.
June:
Pornographic is a big word. I can see fleshly with the units composed of foam rubber with a skin surface, pink or darker highlights and strategic sprinklings of hair. There was a time twenty five or thirty years ago when I did some work like that and it made ME shudder.