S. Paul Michael

Artist. Connecticut/Texas. Lyme Academy of Art

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Numbers Perceived by the Artist, 1-64. Monotype print. Printed 12/15/16 at 9:08-9:24 PM

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Numbers as Perceived by the Artist, 1-277

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1 Hour 5 Minutes 50 Seconds. 178 Lines. Copper etching 1 of 15 printed at 4:18-4:29 PM on 11/13/16

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2,473 lines. 32 Minutes 59 Seconds. Litho print 1 of 5. Printed 11/02/16 at 4:33-4:40 PM.

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16 Hours 14 Minutes 19 Seconds. 6,400 squares. Oil on stretched linen.

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HNDRCKSN 11_30_16

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1000 Primary Lines. 23 Hours 5 Minutes 13 Seconds. 4.5'x10'

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1000 Primary Lines. 23 Hours 5 Minutes 13 Seconds. 4.5'x10'

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Egg Tempera on Paper. 22"x22" (Left) Yellow 3 minutes 41 seconds Red 3 minutes 9 Seconds Blue 3 Minutes 34 Seconds (Middle) Yellow 3 minutes 1 seconds Red minutes 26 seconds Blue 3 minutes 50 seconds (Right) Yellow 2 minutes 31 seconds Red 3 minutes 33 seconds Blue 4 minutes 6 seconds

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(Left) 3 Hours 33 Minutes 12 Seconds (Middle) 3 Hours 16 minutes 0 Seconds (Right) 2 Hours 57 Minutes 12 Seconds

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Nine strips of Primary Colored Paper Dropped Nine Times and Recorded Right to Left. Printed 11/17/16 at 4:09-4:14 PM. Monotype print.

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Seven of Each Primary. Linocut print. 1 of 1. Printed 3:20-4:01 PM on 11/10/16

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24 minutes 32 seconds. Tertiary lines on primary strips. Egg tempera on distemper.

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Some thoughts and developments.

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10/31/16

It's been more than a month since my last post. I've had two community shows, one in Essex and one in New London, a great way to meet people in the area and get some input on my work. I also had a chance to see the show on Agnes Martin at the Guggenheim, if you're in New York definitely check it out.  Here is a photo of an installation at the Essex Art Association.

Here is a shot of the cube at the Marquee Gallery in New London.

The wooden frame was removed from the bottom, allowing the shape to breath as a single unit. If an element can be removed and the piece still works, it should be removed. I'm happy with the outcomes of both shows.

Using alternating primary colors has been a needed development in my monotypes. Here are three of them.

During critique, a few people were confused to why I wrote the time in the left corners if the lines themselves are supposed to represent the unit of time. I've been thinking about this for a few days now and I agree that the two don't work well together. The lines themselves are the time and the written text in this format does not improve the work. I'll keep using the alternating lines but on a larger scale. I started a 10' ink drawing that hopefully will take the optical quality of the primary colors to another level. Another development in my future work will be using sensors to create dialogue between the object and the viewer. I'm looking into making some drawings on conveyor belts that change speed depending on the distance the viewer is from the piece, however, the process of creation will uncover something unexpected.

Happy Halloween!

 Paul.

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09/29/16

I've been making some breakthroughs with my prints. Recording the exact time that a print is printed has been a great way to create multiples while still maintaining an element of authenticity to the time based ideas I've been trying to incorporate. The image here is my first monotype.

I took the consonants from the words "time hotel" (something I'd like to talk about at a later time) and painted them on durlar (it's a three plate monotype, two of them are yellow). I drew the lines of the text in one session and wrote the exact time, 3 hours 18 minutes, 33 seconds. Theres a declarative aspect of monotypes that resonates with me.

I also made a pronto plate (which is a similar process to litho's but with a thin sheet instead). One applies a ball point pen to the surface of the page, the page is dampened and inked up before printing. The ink only sticks to the ballpoint and the print is made. After the first session of lines it became apparent that I had drawn them too lightly, so I took two more sessions to redraw the lines, an arduous process. Here is a photo of the redrawing process. 

After the lines were up to par my classmate and I started printing, but as I was wiping down the surface of the plate I grabbed a bottle of the wrong solvent and accidentally wiped away a large portion of the lines. Rather than drawing them in again in another session I decided to print. Here is the image.

  There is something compelling about using specificity and rules to build up a surface and then wiping it away in a decisive moment. Since this was an accident, a part of the process, I get excited by this print. I'm not sure if I would purposely wipe away my surfaces but I think this accident has allowed for a conversation in destruction.

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09/15/16

I’ve decided to create a blog. It’s important that I start writing about my art. Doing this in a public way creates a transparency in my process and opens the dialogue beyond my daily sphere. I’m a junior at Lyme Academy of Fine Arts in Connecticut and this is the first semester where I have complete control over the direction in my work. I’ll be updating this blog to talk about my successes, failures, and revelations during my creative process. Since the start of this Summer I’ve been creating process/ruled based art exploring the marking of time through line drawing. This past week I created a drawing on 6'x40" and 6'x6.5" pieces of sized paper. The rules are a follows:

Four drawing sessions (of left to right horizontal lines drawn in sequence) of 30 minutes, each in a different primary color (it’s arguable that green is a primary color).  

Each session drawn at a different rate

A line for each minute in its corresponding color drawn on the 6'x6.5" strip 

I used distemper paint, which is rabbit skin glue mixed with pigment, to draw the lines. I wasn’t able to get a full line across the page so I kept adding new lines on top of the old ones. The vertical strips of tape seen in the video were used as a visual guide to realign the lines horizontally. Here is an image of the finished piece. 

The use of color in representing each session is interesting to me and I’d like to continue to explore this.