2-dimensional work has always been my prison. I've worked with photography and the literal interpretation of the world through photo chemistry and bits of silver has always captured my imagination, but by rendering photographic prints in rectangular flat 2-dimensional surfaces never seemed to release anything more than a portion of it's being. Sort of how we only use a portion of our brains for thinking, there is a pent up energy inside photos that is screaming out at us, but we cannot see it except on certain occasions when our mind is somehow fully engaged in a piece of work. Screenprinting has been my craft over the last 25 years that has taken up most of my professional time and as a result I have learned a fair amount using the oversized films and basic colors to put ink onto shirts in a photographic way. Over the last 2-5 years, off and on, I've been merging my printing skills with plaster and castings to come up with a new form of wall art which I call Photo-Fresco.
Over the last few weeks I have broken out of my prison and am on the verge of having fully realizing the potential of this new craft to create 3-dimensional pieces using resins, epoxies, gypsum based plasters with acrylic polymers, spray paint and vinyl to pull out imgages and turn them into objects. The question I have now is if wall art is the right thing to make or if I should reduce this pieces down to simple magnets and charms to make them more digestible to the consuming public. I like the ideas behind displaying prints and pieces on walls, or even selling them in my store, but it is a tall challenge to sell prints without a reputation. Whereas magnets are marketable at $5-10 and they can still be displayed in homes to keep the ball rolling while I work out the details on larger pieces. Larger pieces are more fun to make, but I can only do so many at a time and working smaller, like with pendants and charms moves my production capacity up ten to twenty fold.
The simplest way to make the analysis is to say if I sell one piece for $100, which may takes months, could I sell twenty pieces for $5/ea over the same period of time and not have to worry as much about breakage, storage and the problems with display? I have been testing some adhesives around town using a combination of double sided sticker paper and some pressure sensitive adhesive on the back and to my surprise the items I have placed around town have survived for several weeks in the weather, hot and cold. This is a positive for the flexibility of small things to be displayed in many different environments as stickers versus magnets. At least my mistakes can be gotten rid of if they are small by random postings, as compared to the larger pieces that have to be carried to a storage unit and hidden forever, or until I stop paying the rent. So it seems a combination of stickers, magnets and charms is the way to go, for now.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Friday, April 22, 2011
Down the rabbit hole and it's lined with bricks
I've gone down the rabbit hole and the walls appear to be lined with bricks, gold bricks, copper bricks, bronze bricks, steel bricks and brick bricks. Each turn of the corner shows a new type of brick that can be made. I've made a golden brick panel, that to me resembles the yellow brick road, only I call it a Yellow Brick Wall. I also made a copper brick panel that I painted with an acid wash and quickly saw the patina effect come to life. I don't have much control over this effect, but I am using a veneer of copper so the actual finish is a true patina, whatever that is. I made a flat panel with a mixture of Forton MG and a Shimmer Gold that was muted in the Gypsum, but made an amazing light wood effect. Having more choices on the final effect for these pieces is not making my life easier, but I am getting away from the plastic type finishes that I have been getting with epoxy coatings and uv spray finishes.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Pardon my departure from techniques to
Today I am going to focus on sealants and bonding frames to brick wall piecees.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Nonolith - Defined
A good story tells itself, so in a nonolithic sense I don't really need to write this definition. Since I can't really define something that doesn't exist there is no way I can mess this up. Broad thinking isn't required to grasp the idea of Nonolith, since we live with the concept of less all the time. Nonolith is just the extreme of having less, which is something most of us are used to in our everyday lives, and by applying the method of coping with less you can quickly get to the meaning of Nonolith. Nonolithic is an attempt to release anxiety that is given to things with meaning, with Nonolithicism you can recognize easily that meaning is inherent to existence in objects as well as living things and through time. Nonolithic is not the absence of meaning and the acceptance of nothingness, but the wholistic incorporation of meaning into the simplest of things, our being. Welcome to Nonolith.com - where all is none.
Monolith - or Nonolith
I have now conceptually linked the bricks that I have been making into the concept of the monolith from Stanley Kubrick's Space Odyssey 2001, but in a different way there is no reason to have any more meaning put into this concept. I have extended my rationale to the point that it does not matter what is made, because it is inherent that the understanding and concepts of our times are contained by it's mere existence. From this I have felt a sympathy for the lowly brick in it's anonymous form, but a respect in it's durability and recognizable form. Instinctually I have used my skills to recreate this object in many different ways that would be presentable as a piece of art or artifact of our times, by it's mere presence. So to come back to the underlying meaning of the shape and contextual being I am surprised by the paralells in mysterious symbolism that the Monolith from the movie Space Odyssey contains.
Today I handed a brick sticker to the guy I buy my art materials from, Arty at Douglas and Sturgess in Richmond, and he thought that if he peeled away the sticker a brick wall would appear. I told him it was just a brick sticker, like one brick and then he looked at the other side of the sticker, the brick side, and got it. That's all it is, a brick and a sticker combined. No more, no less. But somehow I feel that my concept is meaningful in that the object contains all of the information, like a database of my work, in it's being. The pigments, the color, the screen printing, the attempts at durability, the texture, the flexibility, the self-promotion, the rectangular shape and so on... Maybe I need to stick one of these on a satelite and have it launched into space to complete the mission, but it really may not be mhy responsibility to worry about that. I just have to keep making the brick in whatever form attaches itself to my brain.
Today I made a brick stencil and cast a panel of red plaster, Tufstone, then spray painted the lines on the textured surface. I wasn't overwhelmed by the effect, but the fact that it worked made the experiment a success. I also cast a batch of eight pieces last night and have now made eight frames to connect to the castings. I move into this direction without hesitation even though bonding has been a consistent problem all along. I think the epoxy will hold the frames to the printed brick panels in a strong and durable way and by batch processing a group of these it will simply mean that it has to work, or I will have eight chances to make it work instead of just one. The last time I made a batch of 8 pieces I ended up with only one working piece, C'est la vie, the others became stickers, so it wasn't so bad. My monoliths are very thin and they come with an adhesive backing.
Today I handed a brick sticker to the guy I buy my art materials from, Arty at Douglas and Sturgess in Richmond, and he thought that if he peeled away the sticker a brick wall would appear. I told him it was just a brick sticker, like one brick and then he looked at the other side of the sticker, the brick side, and got it. That's all it is, a brick and a sticker combined. No more, no less. But somehow I feel that my concept is meaningful in that the object contains all of the information, like a database of my work, in it's being. The pigments, the color, the screen printing, the attempts at durability, the texture, the flexibility, the self-promotion, the rectangular shape and so on... Maybe I need to stick one of these on a satelite and have it launched into space to complete the mission, but it really may not be mhy responsibility to worry about that. I just have to keep making the brick in whatever form attaches itself to my brain.
Today I made a brick stencil and cast a panel of red plaster, Tufstone, then spray painted the lines on the textured surface. I wasn't overwhelmed by the effect, but the fact that it worked made the experiment a success. I also cast a batch of eight pieces last night and have now made eight frames to connect to the castings. I move into this direction without hesitation even though bonding has been a consistent problem all along. I think the epoxy will hold the frames to the printed brick panels in a strong and durable way and by batch processing a group of these it will simply mean that it has to work, or I will have eight chances to make it work instead of just one. The last time I made a batch of 8 pieces I ended up with only one working piece, C'est la vie, the others became stickers, so it wasn't so bad. My monoliths are very thin and they come with an adhesive backing.
How long would I go on before I simply read the ads on my own pages
I finally read some of the ads on my pages and since the ads relate to the text that I have been writing it appears that faux brick and brick panels are quite common in the construction industry. I am not surprised, but I am surprised by the way that I now have these items being promoted on my own pages. Is this a part of the new interlocking world we live in where the information and products that you need simply come to you if you just list your thoughts on a blog? Maybe.
I have been working on my fresco brick panels for some time, but I am sure that my techniques are different that what the professionals are using, but the end result may not be as spectacular as I have imagined when you consider what is for sale already online. The brick panels shown online fit together and can be assembled for use in a way that I won't ever be able to achieve, as well as, the realism that they convey is better than a real brick in many ways. The materials that the faux brick walls are made of appears to be polyester resins, which isn't a plus, but for production I am sure that it makes a lot of sense to use those types of resins.
Does this dampen my motivation to continue to create the brick pieces that I am making? Not really. I am simply moving in a direction and it doesn't really matter what I am making so much as there is a theme and if anything it reinforces the practicality and usefulness of faux brick in the real world. The last thing I would want to do is to make a useful brick interior or exterior wall that would actually be in someone's home. By seeing successful companies that are already in that business I can remain focused on the artistic aspects of my craft and leave the business to the pros.
I did notice that some of the brick panels are available in a fireproof, or Class A rating material, at an extra cost. I wonder if these brick panels are made of the hybrid plaster materials like the Forton MG, which is less flamable than the polyester resins. All along on this project I have felt like I was being pulled back into my boat building days and the materials that these companies that are selling the faux brick walls are using seems to support that idea. Essentially they are plastic shells made in a mold, painted and sealed. Although I am interested technically as to how they are made, it's most likely no more glamorous than how I make a t-shirt. The weight of these brick panels isn't that great either, which is a plus and if I had to make a bunch of brick panels I'd probably end up making them the same way, or just buy them from the company and slap a frame on them myself.
If I wasn't so distracted with making my own stuff I could see a way to use their brick panels in a practical way, like the previously mentioned spray paint wall or some such realism versus craft endeavor. However, I am way too gone for that, the brick has taken over my being as an object that hardly represents a brick any more. It's just an idea. A rectangle, a red outlined box, a simple thing, sort of golden rectangle, but not, a monolith.
I have been working on my fresco brick panels for some time, but I am sure that my techniques are different that what the professionals are using, but the end result may not be as spectacular as I have imagined when you consider what is for sale already online. The brick panels shown online fit together and can be assembled for use in a way that I won't ever be able to achieve, as well as, the realism that they convey is better than a real brick in many ways. The materials that the faux brick walls are made of appears to be polyester resins, which isn't a plus, but for production I am sure that it makes a lot of sense to use those types of resins.
Does this dampen my motivation to continue to create the brick pieces that I am making? Not really. I am simply moving in a direction and it doesn't really matter what I am making so much as there is a theme and if anything it reinforces the practicality and usefulness of faux brick in the real world. The last thing I would want to do is to make a useful brick interior or exterior wall that would actually be in someone's home. By seeing successful companies that are already in that business I can remain focused on the artistic aspects of my craft and leave the business to the pros.
I did notice that some of the brick panels are available in a fireproof, or Class A rating material, at an extra cost. I wonder if these brick panels are made of the hybrid plaster materials like the Forton MG, which is less flamable than the polyester resins. All along on this project I have felt like I was being pulled back into my boat building days and the materials that these companies that are selling the faux brick walls are using seems to support that idea. Essentially they are plastic shells made in a mold, painted and sealed. Although I am interested technically as to how they are made, it's most likely no more glamorous than how I make a t-shirt. The weight of these brick panels isn't that great either, which is a plus and if I had to make a bunch of brick panels I'd probably end up making them the same way, or just buy them from the company and slap a frame on them myself.
If I wasn't so distracted with making my own stuff I could see a way to use their brick panels in a practical way, like the previously mentioned spray paint wall or some such realism versus craft endeavor. However, I am way too gone for that, the brick has taken over my being as an object that hardly represents a brick any more. It's just an idea. A rectangle, a red outlined box, a simple thing, sort of golden rectangle, but not, a monolith.
Simple, Repetitive, Ubiquitous - Le Brick
A final coat, a sealant, will be required in all the materials that I use and this has allowed me to accept a wider range of substrate materials to work with for my fresco binder in making these framed brick pieces. I have switched to a pre-mixed gypsum based plaster that has an acrylic polymer and micro-fibers already in the dry powder. This Tufstone may be the perfect medium for me, literally.
I have also stopped worrying about the thickness of the substrate as a way to make something durable. Every time I mix in different materials to strengthen a piece, as with back filling a frame with FGR 95 or Forgon MG I create new problems. I end up with leeching white stains on the front of the pieces once they are exposed to water without a sealant. Thus the rationale for the sealant as mentioned above, although I have not sealed the items from the back too, and I have been warned that if there is no way for moisture to escape then that in and of itself can cause problems. In the end it seems that different materials layered onto each other eventually crack or leech color and therefore I can't just use mass as a sealant and increased mass is not a requirement for a finished piece.
Weight has always been a factor in my product development, so by reducing mass I am reducing weight, which is a good thing. I even converted some of my mess-ups to stickers and gave them to my kids so that they could have some fun putting them up in places. Instinctually they started drawing on the brick stickers with random slogans and sticking them in places, so I am happy to say that I continue to see no bounds with this project. I am using a pressure sensitive adhesive on the back of the thinly casted pieces, and when I say thin, I mean thin. I can't imagine any piece of ceramic being able to be used in this way. As a result I am confident that I have found a way to argue that these gypsum based products are more applicable than ceramic for my use. I have heard that ceramic technology is in use in many things we use in our day-to-day lives, like even printed pages in magazines may be coated with a sort of ceramic matrix, but I don't really know this to be true. So when I refer to ceramics I am referencing the typical crafted ceramics that are used with glazed images and designs. Boring, but long lasting in that they are crystaline and rock-like in there atomic form.
Half a student I was and indeed I only learned half the information; just enough information to be dangerous to myself and others, so watch out. Historical Geology, Archeology, and Mineralogy taught me a few things about the archival nature of our world. Unless something has a solid internal structure it won't really survive because the compounds that make up our world are easily subjected to immediate decay. Without serious efforts being made to preserve an item over an extended period of time it won't be around to convey information and since our relative time in existence is miniscule as compared to the geological record it is a crap shoot to wonder what will last thousands of years.
Our skulls will be more important, historically speaking, in the long run versus our art since it may be preserved for a longer period of time as a result of the calcium bone structure than our art. But our art will contain information beyond what our physical body can preserve as to the relevance of our existence. There will be millions of skulls left in the soil for future generations to examine, but for every unique piece of art that is created during any specific period of time, there need be only one. Each unique piece of work contains information beyond our understanding that is outside of even itself, as far as the relevance to our times, so the more unique an item is the more important it could be from a historical perspective.
Bonding my frames to the simulated brick walls is still an issue and the frames are serving dual purposes now. The frame is in essence the strongest part of the pieces I am making since the veneer of brick has become so thin. Some of my current pieces have just crumbled when I release them from thier mold. I think this is the result of too much pigment in the binder and the powdered and liquid silica work against the internal strength of the fresco material I am using to make the frames and brick. This repeats the theme of sealant, since the more color I add to the fresco dilutes the strength I have started making the frames without color and painted them with an airbrush later. This should provide a stronger frame with better bonding characteristics than heavily pigmented plasters.
Finally I have accepted that I will need to use polyester resin or epoxy as a bonding layer to firmly adhere the frame to the brick wall because I can't come up with anything better, other than pouring both pieces at the same time and this reduces the flexibility of the textures that I can create using the fresco material. The entire point of the fresco is the textural quality of the finished work, and if I use a mold for the frame simultaneously with casting the brick wall I lose a significant amount of the texture that makes a brick wall brick. I have testing using the photo-fresco techniques to create the brick as a photograph in the plaster, but without the texture it fails to work for me. Other image based things work well as the photo-fresco, but not le brick.
I have also stopped worrying about the thickness of the substrate as a way to make something durable. Every time I mix in different materials to strengthen a piece, as with back filling a frame with FGR 95 or Forgon MG I create new problems. I end up with leeching white stains on the front of the pieces once they are exposed to water without a sealant. Thus the rationale for the sealant as mentioned above, although I have not sealed the items from the back too, and I have been warned that if there is no way for moisture to escape then that in and of itself can cause problems. In the end it seems that different materials layered onto each other eventually crack or leech color and therefore I can't just use mass as a sealant and increased mass is not a requirement for a finished piece.
Weight has always been a factor in my product development, so by reducing mass I am reducing weight, which is a good thing. I even converted some of my mess-ups to stickers and gave them to my kids so that they could have some fun putting them up in places. Instinctually they started drawing on the brick stickers with random slogans and sticking them in places, so I am happy to say that I continue to see no bounds with this project. I am using a pressure sensitive adhesive on the back of the thinly casted pieces, and when I say thin, I mean thin. I can't imagine any piece of ceramic being able to be used in this way. As a result I am confident that I have found a way to argue that these gypsum based products are more applicable than ceramic for my use. I have heard that ceramic technology is in use in many things we use in our day-to-day lives, like even printed pages in magazines may be coated with a sort of ceramic matrix, but I don't really know this to be true. So when I refer to ceramics I am referencing the typical crafted ceramics that are used with glazed images and designs. Boring, but long lasting in that they are crystaline and rock-like in there atomic form.
Half a student I was and indeed I only learned half the information; just enough information to be dangerous to myself and others, so watch out. Historical Geology, Archeology, and Mineralogy taught me a few things about the archival nature of our world. Unless something has a solid internal structure it won't really survive because the compounds that make up our world are easily subjected to immediate decay. Without serious efforts being made to preserve an item over an extended period of time it won't be around to convey information and since our relative time in existence is miniscule as compared to the geological record it is a crap shoot to wonder what will last thousands of years.
Our skulls will be more important, historically speaking, in the long run versus our art since it may be preserved for a longer period of time as a result of the calcium bone structure than our art. But our art will contain information beyond what our physical body can preserve as to the relevance of our existence. There will be millions of skulls left in the soil for future generations to examine, but for every unique piece of art that is created during any specific period of time, there need be only one. Each unique piece of work contains information beyond our understanding that is outside of even itself, as far as the relevance to our times, so the more unique an item is the more important it could be from a historical perspective.
Bonding my frames to the simulated brick walls is still an issue and the frames are serving dual purposes now. The frame is in essence the strongest part of the pieces I am making since the veneer of brick has become so thin. Some of my current pieces have just crumbled when I release them from thier mold. I think this is the result of too much pigment in the binder and the powdered and liquid silica work against the internal strength of the fresco material I am using to make the frames and brick. This repeats the theme of sealant, since the more color I add to the fresco dilutes the strength I have started making the frames without color and painted them with an airbrush later. This should provide a stronger frame with better bonding characteristics than heavily pigmented plasters.
Finally I have accepted that I will need to use polyester resin or epoxy as a bonding layer to firmly adhere the frame to the brick wall because I can't come up with anything better, other than pouring both pieces at the same time and this reduces the flexibility of the textures that I can create using the fresco material. The entire point of the fresco is the textural quality of the finished work, and if I use a mold for the frame simultaneously with casting the brick wall I lose a significant amount of the texture that makes a brick wall brick. I have testing using the photo-fresco techniques to create the brick as a photograph in the plaster, but without the texture it fails to work for me. Other image based things work well as the photo-fresco, but not le brick.
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