From the Archives: In A Silent Way
While down in Los Angeles for the holidays, I don’t have access to any new art to post, so thought I’d take the opportunity to reproduce one of the earliest versions of my current oevre
“In A Silent Way” 25″ x 30″ and 16″ x 16″, Acrylics and Inks on Canvas w/ Safety Pins. Click to enlarge.
In 2005, I had amassed a large number of paintings and pieces of paintings from weaves and other work that I didn’t know what to do with. They either weren’t suited for weaving in the fashion I had been accustomed to, they weren’t big enough to feature on their own, but neither were they terrible. I needed to find a way to feature these pieces in another form.
Ultimately I decided to safety-pin these pieces together into the rough quilt you see above. This method allowed me to feature individual pieces where each could shine individually, while also accentuating the rest of the parts.
The painting is named after an important Miles Davis album. He and his band would jam over a lose progressions of chords and scales for various takes. Then Davis and his producer, Teo Macero, would cut up those takes to create montages of repeating themes and textures that served as the two songs on the album (1 on each side of the original vinyl). The name of this painting reflects the similarity of methods, as well as my synesthetic association of that album with this color scheme.
The inclusion of the top square was a happy accident. That was a part of a drop cloth on which I painted many of the pieces inside the main body of the piece. When I hung the main piece to look at it, the top piece happened to be stored on a nail in that position. I decided I liked the diptych, so its stayed.
Since this first volley, safety-pins have become a main focus for me, with many variations becoming apparent as I became familiar with the style. But I will cover those in too much detail later.
See you in 2009-
JD
December 30, 2008 at 3:45 pm
I like what you did there. If you were an organ in an imaginary organism, what would you be called and what would be your function?
December 30, 2008 at 6:34 pm
I’d be the large intestine, because I’m full of crap.
December 30, 2008 at 7:12 pm
awesome. love the painting, love the story.
December 30, 2008 at 10:48 pm
Thanks, Darya. If I am completely accurate, your painting (that is sitting in my kitchen) was probably the first full sized safety pin piece I made, except that was a single piece cut up and put together again. But that was 2 and a half years before I started getting into it in earnest, so I kind of cout from there.
December 30, 2008 at 11:29 pm
I like how these two pieces reflect and relate to each other, and there is something about the top one that reminds me of some of the surfaces in stephs encaustics. I am also interested in seeing this in comparison to what and how you are making things now. The first thing that catches my attention is the change in texture of the squares themselves as well as the variation in sizes. In this one the pieces appear to be more matte, and the way they are arranged give me a sense of a jigsaw puzzle, where the ones you make now the individual components are more textural, more uniform in the size and the puzzle is more about the construction of the object itself. I am enjoying the way you mixed the colors and in the bottom part the pieces and the white highlights make me think of topographical photos of ocean jettys.
did any of that make sense? i just woke up, it’s 11 pm and i am confused.
December 31, 2008 at 6:28 pm
i’ve always liked this one a bunch. the inclusion of the top part is interesting on a number of levels. visually, it continues the rhythm from the part below by loosely repeating the grid motif at the same time as it introduces more variation with the shift from 3d to 2d and a somewhat more organic composition. conceptually, it’s exciting that you were able to include what is essentially a byproduct of the work itself. the two parts work so well together even though the making of them was almost antithetical–the bottom was considered and constructed purposefully, the top was (sort of ) residue from the making of the bottom.
it’s cool to read about how you arrived at your signature safety pin method. the fact that you developed it as much out of necessity as anything is a fun revelation. your explanations of goings on behind the work generally reveal a very logical, practical thought process which makes sense especially considering that the work itself seems to become more carefully ordered over time.
February 17, 2009 at 2:46 am
[...] the archives: Green Woven Pinned Scraps This piece was started after but finished before In A Silent Way, so I don’t know which should really be called my first large scale safety pin [...]
December 15, 2009 at 1:44 pm
[...] This is one of a few studio Fusion albums Miles released between 1969 and the mid 70s in which he assembled bands to play rough, extended jams that would later be edited together into epic compositions. The first of these, “In a Silent Way” is the name sake for one of my first safety pin pieces. [...]