Lecture Notes - Embrace the Shake, or, "I Make and Break the Rules"

*Consider new techniques - try more things
-allows deeper thinking about the rational of my work
-ideas behind work are just as important as the work itself
Psychology, philosophy, film, literature
New ways to represent research

language without actually being figurative - no drawn marks on a surface
"catching breath when things achieve nothingness"
lines and shadows in space - DRAWING in space
thread of language

Paintings of smoke - lost fluidity
how to paint smoke without actually painting? FILMS of smoke!

*Oblique Strategies - Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt*
-encourages lateral thinking
e.g. "know thy error as a hidden intention"
"The Prepared Piano" - John Cage - pleasure in making new discoveries
Try new surfaces, new mediums, incorporate sculpture
THEN set limits - only use certain colours? How to overcome these limitations?

OULIPO

A Void - novel written without the letter "e"

Singular Pleasures, Henry Matthews

Mondrian - constraints - can help spur creativity - focus on area of inspiration - only straight lines, 90 degree angles, primary colours
Focus on the CREATION - new insights can form

William Kentridge - All the most interesting work I have ever made has been against my ideas

Doris Selsedo - words from poems as a creative trigger
installations but also drawings

Mary Harlman - places restrictions on size
starts with just 1 idea which leads to other ideas through association

Florian Mayan Haschen - brings out imperfections in the photography
painting, photography, the real and representation
tool usually used for creation (computer) opens up possibilities of discovery

Ernest Hemingway - entire story in 6 words
For sale: baby shoes, never worn

Michael Johansson - 3D objects combined to make seemingly 2D works - sculptures which seem as paintings

Austin Kleon - blacks out words from text to change meaning
copyright laws give constraints for him to work within - must have completely different meaning, parody original meaning, etc.

TED Talk - Phil Hansen
-diagnosed with hand shake, uses it as source of creativity
-developed out of single minded pursuit of perfect pointillism
squiggle pictures
-had to find other ways to fragment images e.g. use feet, work on larger scale
-can be paralysed by too much choice
-We must first be limited to become limitless
"Goodbye Art"


*Today's lecture has really made me think about how I will continue to generate imagery for this semester. I am inspired by the suggestion to create self-enforced limitations on the creative process, which enforces the idea I was already considering to work with a monochromatic palette. I am also starting to think about creating accompanying imagery to my detailed paintings by generating a pixellated grayscale grid. This would involve segmenting my panel into small squares and choosing what colour each of those squares is filled with through a random number generating process. However, I would make the rule that the same colour cannot be touching itself between two squares, except on a diagonal. I am interested to first play with this on a small scale, and then do a couple of larger oil works.