13 Sep Work about the words
Words emerging from work, where to put them?
Other artists that use words, that seem most relevant to me now (as they doing use a graphic/advertising framing device) – Jenny Holzer, uses the words to focus on a view – one that speaks of power bases and feminism. She creates subversive objects. Benches that disrupt the public park. Adam Pendaltons’ Black Dada paintings use language as the black mark making against the white canvas or mirror, nonsensical aesthetics that convey well a chaotic self portrait, the concerns of a black american artist. Any other ‘word’ artist suggestions you may have would be welcomed.
Jenny Holzer 
Adam Pendleton
Words, like shades of paint describe a space. In the Feb 10th blog post forty four words linked with monoprints describe the time spent in the Labyrinth. It is a landscape. My plans to build on some sound work didn’t transpire over the summer but I will park it for now. I did however want to manifest the words into some work. To capture the ritual theme and see what came out of it. So I returned to the Arseverse idea. **
With the warmer weather I could open the studio doors and allow lots of ventilation to use the pyrography tool. Like a soldering iron it allows you to burn into the wood, using burning as a way of drawing seemed like the right nod to arson albeit in a controlled environment.
The timber was given to me a while ago, by a neighbour. Two old seat backs off a dismantled bus. I enjoy receiving random gifts like this. These offerings can inform my practice. Placed together they reminded me of two halves of a whole, a diptych or those folding portable relics hinged together like books. In days before the technology of the printed word, travelling mystics spread their spiritual word using these portable relics.
One side of the Arseverse is complete, sanded and varnished. I plan to work on the flip side at my leisure burning my labyrinth/glyph self portrait to decorate the two panels. I will join the two sides together but haven’t decided how yet.
As an object, what does it suggest to you so far?
** ARSEVERSE, n. A spell written on the side of a house to ward off fire.s.Sc. 1898 G. W. M. in E.D.D.:
Known by old persons some years ago.Rxb. 1825 Jam.2:
Arsé-Versé. A sort of spell used to prevent the house from fire, or as an antidote to Arson, from which the term is supposed to be derived.
https://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/arseverse
