Artist Statement
The mute language of nature speaks to us all, as does that of drawings. All that is needed to understand it is quite attention.
Artists need to unlock. They need to search to find parts of themselves that I have not seen explored. With this release the artist can then set up conditions, experiments and projects that possibly push into new territories.
Why These Projects?
How does one abandon or redirect away from what others have taught him or her? How does one avoid negative influences currently popular with critics, curators, and museums? What can the artist provide and follow for oneself with resolution and courage in order to fine something genuine within?
“Combining Disparate Parts”
Some time after completing the 200 drawings, Variations in a Square, I received a gift of a Japanese block with ink and brushes. At this point I decided to turn to rectangles and the new medium. The ink and brushes helped define the conditions for new possibilities. I once again set my own conditions which precluded that I work on 12 x 16” rectangles in a horizontal position. Each work was made independently of the others at varying times. After I accumulated many works, I began to join two pieces together horizontally as one resulting in exciting unexpected combinations.
By combing disparate parts, I arrived at Baroque fluid forms that were very unfamiliar to me. These combinations have an exuberant life of their own; they grow and reach out in many directions like growing vegetation. As biomorphic forms they spread across the surface rather than penetrate the depth of the picture plane. A change in format from the square to the rectangle eliminated a focal centrality. By my insistence on combining parts, that intentionally were not created together and then joining these disparate drawings I allowed chance to establish new possibilities.
Additionally, the soft brushes and watery ink easily formed complex intricate shapes allowing me to indulge in extravagant expression.
“Mixtures, Mergers, and Fusions”
In this project I worked collages on large pieces of paper fro which I cut out parts that went together in exiting ways. I affixed them to a mustard-like colored paper, one of my favorite colors.
Collage, although a distinct medium, can be allied with drawings inventively and subtlety. In this work fragments of paper were affixed to other papers, isolated parts were extracted from larger works and recombined into new works. These works were arrived at accidently as opposed to intentionally.
“Silent Images”
In this project – the rectangular identical papers 12” x 18” were held vertically-shapes were drawn with a black crayon and then the entire remaining surface was filled with black crayon. The result essentially created white shapes in a black background.
Each rectangular panel was execute independently of the other. When many were made, they were combined into groups of four or five depending on how effectively they energized each other as a group. Upon reflecting on this project, there arose many questions.
Were these signs, symbols? I called them signs, but after some reading on the subject I was not certain and referred to them as forms. Barthes tells us that language is a set of conventional signs that are social constructions, which have meaning only in a particular society. Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary states that a ‘sign’ is a mark having a set of conventional signs used in a language – nor a mark having a conventional meaning in place of something else.
Maybe my forms are symbols? I understand that a symbol can be a sound mark or word that stands for something else. Only humans create and learn symbols through life experiences to communicate with others. My forms do not communicate conventional ideas agreed upon in a particular society; therefore, my forms are neither signs nor symbols. They may be symbols. They do stand for something, but what? Are they simply shapes? And what is a shape? According to Webster a shape is something having a particular form. I accept that they are forms or ‘shapes’ and perhaps they communicate in other ways, such as through their movement, sense of tactility, and sensuality. They can communicate pleasure, release, and ecstasy. In this project where each ‘shape’ or ‘form’ could stand alone. I grouped them into sets of four of five.
Did grouping amplify the experience? Were the weaker shapes given more strength by the more assertive ones? Did they modify or enrich each other in some manner? What constitutes a group? According to Webster a group is something in which there is a ‘unifying factor’. In this project the ‘shape’ is not a unifying factor as each one is different from the other.
What is it then that unifies the group? The fact that they are, in each case, white ‘shape’ on a black ground and the fact that these shapes all occupy identical formats, rectangular viewed vertically. These criteria make it passible for the works to function as a group. These ‘signs’ invite us to enjoy our hedonistic tendencies, to abandon ourselves to playful being, to experience the vitality of sensuality. I finally decided to call them images. Image making is the result of creative thinking. Images come into being when the ordinary categories of cultural beliefs are by-passed or suspended. Only then can play, chance, and imagination come into the picture.
It is my belief that silence is potent in the mute visual image. It is evident and reinforced in this project.
The image is like a living organism with sensory vitality. Different sensations result when size, value, and placement are brought into a particular relationship. They intermingle to shape the sensory experience.
In turn, the physical body receives the message. In short, the actions, directions, and movement are a force claiming their existence.
“Directional Space”
The project titled Directional Space was executed with black crayons on white rectangular paper of the same size. Holing the paper in a horizontal position they were made without relation to one another. These were then turned from the original horizontal position to a vertical one. A selection was then made composing any two or three pieces, which together presented provocative spatial effects.
All these works abandon amorphous shapes in favor of geometric elements generally reduced to lines in space. They arrived as three different spatial arrangements within one piece, different dramatically from the traditional goal of a single harmonic spatial composition within one piece. Collectively, they represent fresh spatial experiences on a lateral plane.
Angiola Churchill's artist statement for her exhibition "Variations In A Square." Produced by Wook & Lattuada. Shot + Cut by Eddie Song Crew Peter Jung Special Thanks to Justin Rhee