Jean Harris

Friday 4 May 2012

Summer Musings

A Way Through

acrylic on paper

35 x 48 cm

2011

Time Passing

oil on canvas paper

28 x 37 cm
2011

Blue Pot

oil on canvas paper

28 x 37 cm

2011

Yellow Sea

oil on canvas paper

29 x 39 cm

2011

Cross

oil on canvas paper

23 x 29 cm

2012

Streak

oil on canvas paper

23 x 29 cm

2012

Fractal

acrylic on paper

40 x 40 cm

2012

detail

There's Meaning in Here Somewhere
acrylic on paper
40 x 56 cm
2012

Friday 27 April 2012

Journeys

A Day in Kodaikanal, Southern India digital print 50 x 50 cm 2012

As an extension to the chance theme this photographic collage is the product of taking a photo every 5 minutes whilst on a day out in Kodaikanal, southern India.

One of the photos

A Day in Torquay, Southern England digital print 50 x 50 cm 2012

A similar exercise was carried out in Torquay, southern England, except that the time interval between photos was shorter.

One of the photos

In the manner of Anastasi, a large number of chance bus drawings were made on my commute to college. They involve looking out of the window with a pen poised over a sheet of card. This process was extended to the seven elements of my journey to India, as shown here.

Car journey on the way to Plymouth coach station, 20 minutes

Coach journey between Plymouth and Ivybridge, 30 minutes

Bus journey from Heathrow to the hotel, 20 minutes

Hoppa bus journey from hotel to Heathrow airport, 10 minutes

Flight from Heathrow to Dubai, taxiing and

take off, 30 minutes

Flight from Dubai to Trivandrum, taxiing and take off,

30 minutes

Minibus journey from Trivandrum airport to hotel, 30 minutes

By Chance

"And even though chance deals with the unexpected and the unplanned, it still has to be organised before it can exist".

Robert Rauschenberg

"If one provokes chance the result is what it is".
Reichardt

Kelly Revisited

coloured card on softboard

96 x 96 cm

2012

Pre-determined elements:

Use of card

Type of card

Use of square motif

Size of cards (12 x12cm)

Number of squares on the whole sheet (8x8)

Hence overall size (96x96cm)

Colour of cards

Number of cards to be put on the sheet (40)

Proportion of different colours

Random elements:

Position of coloured squares on sheet

Which colour goes where

Kelly in Triangles

coloured card

59 x 60 cm

2012

Pre-determined elements:

Use of card

Type of card

Range of colours

Overall square shape
Proportion of white to coloured triangles

Random elements:

Use of triangles or rectangles

Number of rows and columns

Direction of diagonal line

Whether each triangle is coloured or white

Number of colours to use

Which colours of a range of 13

Which colour goes where

Kelly in Rectangles

coloured card

59 x 59 cm

2012

Pre-determined elements:

Use of card

Type of card

Range of colours
Use of rectangles

Overall square shape
Proportion of white to coloured rectangles

Random elements:

Number of rows and columns

Direction of dividing line

Whether each rectangle is coloured or white

Number of colours to use

Which colours of a range of 13

Which colour goes where

Democracy betrayed

Democracy Betrayed installation (digital prints, magnifying glass, motion activated sound recorder) minimum dimension 1 x 2.5 m 2011

A black wall, two large (1 x 1 m) black and white digital prints sit evenly spaced in the space.

The lefthand print (1 x 1 m) is made up of a million dot like marks - the estimated number of protesters in London, opposing the proposed Iraq war.

The date, seen vaguely, is 16th February 2003.

The right hand print (1 x 1 m) is made up of 125,000 dog tags, some black, the estimated 120,000 Iraqi dead and some white, the 5,000 allied troops dead.

Between them a magnifying glass attached to the wall. Scrutiny reveals a single dot.

As the observer moves closer a motion activated speaker, located above, reiterates in Blair's own words his insistence on the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Sadam's Iraq. The recording finishes with the sound of bombing over Baghdad in the shock and awe campaign.

Picasso said it all.

Open Book

"It's like wandering about in a library where all the books are written in an indecipherable language"

Solaris, Stanislaw Lem, 1961

Open Book

installation (screen printed acetate sheet, printed silk, screen printed fabric, wax,

plaster, mortar, flint & plaster, mirror, slumped float glass, kiln-cast glass, paint)

dimensions variable 2011

In a small neighbourhood library a large multi-coloured banner (book case height) directs customers towards a series of 18 books which use languages other than English. Not foreign languages, but languages some of us recognise and can use, but which most of us just find bewildering.

The banner is made up of sheets of over-lapping acetates which have been screen printed with samples of these languages.

In this detail can be seen

knitting,

maths,

music,

semaphore,

circuit board,

braille,

statistics

This detail has

shorthand,

html,

semaphore,

circuit board,

statistics.

The books are distributed about the library.

On one central table lie the majority of the small books,(all approximately 13 x 17 x 3 cm).

Meanwhile the larger books (all approximately 21 x 31 x 3 cm) are situated in the window alongside the computers and daily papers.

Some individual examples:

Semaphore

slumped glass, wax, plastic

small book

Utopian

slumped glass, wax,

screen printed fabric

small book

Arabic

mirror, slumped glass

small book

Binary

kiln-cast glass

small book

Braille

cast flint and plaster

large book

English

kiln-cast glass, paint

small book

Reliefs

This image,as mentioned under the geometric paintings post, was used as a basis for an investigation into different materials and their reactions under certain stresses. The 'tiles' were made as reliefs.