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September 28, 2004
'A' cushion
A is 'Aristides The Just'.
This is the first result coming from my idea of developing random connections. Also working with the outcome in mind ñ as a set of cushions. I've decided to let the cushion 'frame' the illustrated capital, and I want to actually get some sample cushions made up as I think this will alter things a bit . . . the way the image is mediated via fabric and 3D form.
Aristides was an Athenian politician who was fanatical about justice, so much so he lived a life of self imposed poverty, and was banished from Athens (in 482 BC) basically because he refused to let the corruption of other politicians go unnoticed. He was ostracised by a public vote and the image in the background here is from a story whereby an illiterate man approaches Aristides (but who doesn't know him) and asks him to mark his vote for Aristides because he's just so sick of always hearing him referred to as "the just".
The foreground image is obviously Elvis shaking hands with Nixon. In the 60s Elvis became increasingly righteous and obsessed with justice. He collected police badges and guns, he was made an honorary member of various police forces, and in 1970 was presented with a Narcotics Bureau badge and ID by Richard Nixon! Elvis had previously written, what Marcus refers to as "The King's demented letter to the president", in which Elvis voices his concern about "the drug culture, the hippie elements, etc", and offered his services as a "federal agent at large". The irony being of course that by this stage Elvis was himself heavily addicted to drugs, only his were prescription.
I thought this brought out an interesting hybrid Elvis, if perhaps one of the more obvious. The good and the bad, Elvis as the good christian boy vs Elvis the rockabilly rebel singing the devil's music. I think one of Elvis's big problems was his desire to be all things to all people. Hence this most bizarre of Elvis images, the King shaking hands with President Nixon?
Regarding the image I've made, there's a few things this has brought up.
The size and importance of the letterform in the scene. I kinda' felt this was becoming more about constructing a picture than an illustrated capital ñ I think the letterform needs to relate to the image, and basically be a shit load bigger.
The other thing I've realised through making this image is that perhaps making the 'collage' so obvious, the 'cut & paste' is not going to facilitate a 'hybrid' statement, or image to come about? I do like the shadows that are created by having images on different layers (I've discussed the relevance of the shadows previously I think?), but I'm wondering if this is stopping the images from essentially being 'grafted' together . . . does this make sense?
Also, I was thinking more about my Hot Rod Biology book, actually looking through it and decided that, in purely formal terms, the way I construct the image could still involve the attempt to hybridise the pop/trash conventions with the scientific . . . I like the possibility of interaction between truth and fiction, right and wrong, sincerity and scandal . . . and of course all these binary opposites, or actually the contradiction in their negation is what Elvis represented.
Anyway, blah blah blah, what I was getting to was an introduction to the line at the top of the image which carries the number and title . . . it's supposed to reference the notion of an empirical truth, a system, superimposed or floating over the image.
Posted by Luke Wood at 12:46 PM
September 20, 2004
Random Connections
Reading Andrew Blauvelt's text 'Unfolding Information' in Emigre No.40 has been really interesting in that he discusses 'Hybridity and the information product' and also 'Mutant identities for mutable media'. His mention that mutation implies the replication of pattern AND the interjection of randomness, has made me think about making random connections in the Elvis Presley project . . . I've been having trouble 'placing' Elvis, giving him things to do ñ now I'm thinking I'm going to try to create random situations/connections and see what I can make of them through the process of designing them into one another.
I've mentioned previously that I've been enjoying reading Greil Marcus's 'Lipstick Traces' ñ the way he makes sense of seemingly random connections. Reading Blauvelt's piece I immediately thought of Marcus's writing . . .
"The introduction of new information into a system disrupts its existing pattern, thereby changing that system. It is randomness, a mutation, that interupts the pattern. The mutation is an important event or defining moment when a system is undergoing change because it marks the threshold from one state to another: 'Mutation is crucial because it names the bifurcation point at which the interplay between pattern and randomness causes the system to evolve in a new direction. Mutation implies both the replication of pattern ñ the morphological standard against which it can be measured and understood as a mutation ñ and the interjection of randomness ñ the variations that mark it as a deviation so decisive it can no longer be assimilated into the same'."
I guess I like the idea that you can force seemingly unrelated things together to see what happens . . . can you disrupt a system, a convention . . . in Marcus's case he kind of mutates history, forcing seemingly unrelated moments together, making them make sense, therefore altering our recognition of the pattern of history.
I have mentioned, much earlier, in this project my interest in the book 'The Dice Man' by Luke Reinhardt, in fact I included it as part of the manifesto I wrote for 'Hot Rod Biology'. What I liked about this book was the central idea that we are confined by our ego, our sense of ourself ñ I can or can't do this because I'm this type of person ñ and that by introducing chance (randomness) into our daily lives we can break free from our ego and experience 'more'.
Since returning from Melbourne three weeks ago I've been really stuck with the Elvis Presley project. Basically I haven't been happy with what I'm doing with Elvis ñ I guess it's primarily a formal exercise, but I seem to need content!? The latest pieces involved me having Elvis visit other designers and musicians who I thought might be 'Hybrid Practitioners'. My concern with this was that I was closing down possible readings of the images, and personalising the project too much . . . also, I wasn't making connections through the work, I was just picking someone and sticking them together with Elvis. While this worked with some people, there were others, especially designers, who didn't really 'get much' by being placed in a room or at a table with Elvis.
So my idea now . . . to make random connections with Elvis, and then to try and disrupt the patterns associated with the myth, to reveal something, to eventually make sense of the connection through making the work?
To introduce this random element I'm planning to use dice to choose entries (from A to Z) from and the 'Arthur Mee's Children's Encyclopedia'. This was something I used to spend ages reading when I was a kid, and links to my interest in Elvis ñ nostalgia, and memories of my grandparents.
The image I've included with this post is a book Anna gave me for my birthday, 'Tarzan Presley' by New Zealand writer Nigel Cox. I haven't read it yet but it is a conflation (hybrid/mutation) of the legend of Tarzan and the myth of Elvis Presley. It's set in the Rainforests of New Zealand where there are Gorillas and Giant Wetas. Apparently, through the combination of the two myths, Cox explores the nature of fame and wealth, and changing circumstance. I wonder if the dice landed on Tarzan?
Posted by Luke Wood at 03:39 PM
September 16, 2004
Drummer Wanted
Ok so following what felt like a successful trip to Melbourne, I now find myself in a rut. I was quite excited about the prospect of trying to bring the band into the project ñ doing some recording this term, and trying to piece it together with this other work. But, our drummer is off to live in Milan for a year . . . and good drummers are HARD to find!
Posted by Luke Wood at 02:10 PM