Farm Projects

opening reception : saturday, march 09, 3-5pm

note / composition series statement

I began this series in February 2020, it is the culmination of years of tinkering and considerations and will continue to morph and adapt with time and experience.

one note piece = a note.

six or more notes = a composition.

Each note is on heavy watercolor paper, dimensions are 12 x 9 inches. Each month I begin 60 new pieces, they start in the home and are used as informal note paper, coffee/tea coasters, sometimes to doodle and write ideas and lists, phone numbers and messages. Often they go through a process of being piled up and covered by old watered down paint containers and transferred with current newspapers. At the end of each month this somewhat marked and stained pile is taken to the studio for further use where they continue to gather marks and drips, put into use for various processes and duties. Primarily they gather marks and information unintentionally and by chance though sometimes not so much, and that tension in how I work is something that interests me.

I think of each piece as a musical note, in all of the complexities that can be inhabited by one note in the way that it is played.

A composition is at least 6 notes in a connected grid, my plan is that these compositions will be much larger, from 40 to 100s of notes in total pinned directly to a wall in large installations. The notes for these composition installations will be taken from the larger piles in constant use in the studio and will be placed in and define the composition by using a simple chance operation. In the future I envision these compositions being performed live in situ by various musicians who can interpret the composition/s in any way that suits them. I already have a list of musicians who have expressed interest in this once I get this project to that point.

Every month I choose 15 notes from the many that are in process in my studio to sign, title and date as finished individual notes, these are the only pieces that will be shown and available for sale individually.