Etching Process
Posted by David Mazure | Filed under Diagrams, Prints
This is an image of one of my copper plates in the initial stages of the etching process. Although I’m supposed to keep my personal thoughts aside (thanks Sue!), this is one instance where I think the plate looks a whole lot better than the actual completed print. The black stuff coating the copper plate is highly toxic asphaltum that I have begun to scratch into revealing the shiny copper beneath. The shiny copper parts that are exposed will eventually be the areas that get etched, thus allowing ink to seep into those areas and print (as seen in the finished print).
Random Thought Pattern (Quadrant A), 8″ x 12″
April Fool’s Day 2008
Posted by David Mazure | Filed under Diagrams, Digital, Installations, Prints
About a month after installing You Can’t Be What You Were (the previous post) I hung up a scientific research poster in the ‘Student Research Poster of the Month’ spot, which just happened to be right around the corner from my installation. I chose the hang it up on April 1st. After taking a look at the poster, I think you’ll see why I chose that specific date:
The Answer is in the Process
Posted by eepman | Filed under Diagrams, Drawings
So, it seems as if most people who commented on the last post thought the black and white globules look like they have something to do with procreation/reproduction/embryonic beings. In actuality, I intend for them to be the skeletal structures/substratums of elementary particles. For those of you who may not know what an elementary particle is — they are: any of various fundamental subatomic particles, including those that are the smallest and most basic constituents of matter (leptons and quarks) or are combinations of these (hadrons, which consist of quarks), and those that transmit one of the four fundamental interactions in nature (gravitational, electromagnetic, strong, and weak).
Two questions that I am often asked regarding my artwork are: 1) What is that? and 2) How did you come up with that? Well, to answer those two questions, the image below diagrams the process by which I derive my imagery:
Stage 1: Most of my imagery is originally derived from my own figure drawings (see Gallery). I tend to isolate certain areas of interest in a figure drawing (how joints meet, how backs twist, how arms bend, etc) and then. . .
Stage 2: . . .combine them to form something totally and completely different; usually in the form of a graphite drawing, but in this case it is a lithograph, and the new object is my ‘portrait of an elementary particle.’
Stage 3: I then use tracing paper and ink to draw lines representing the actions and forms contained within this ‘portrait of an elementary particle’ to establish a skeletal structure (substratum) of the particle.
Stage 4: Sometimes I create a larger drawing from the small substratum (Stage 3) drawing, but I have been avoiding that recently because it becomes too time consuming, and I’ve decided it is not really necessary.
Stage 5: Substratum drawing is scanned onto my computer and enlarged.
Stages 6 & 7: Using the pen tool in Adobe Illustrator, I intricately trace over the negative areas (white areas) of the substratum drawing and then add substance to them (by creating the illusion of 3-dimensionality) and then adding color (and maybe eventually a light source).
Help me!
Posted by David Mazure | Filed under Diagrams, Digital
Help me! I am currently working on an installation project that (surprise, surprise!) involves diagrams and configurations of a scientific nature. I’ve been working on these for the past few days and think I may be too involved with it to be able to rely on my usually sound decision making abilities. Please select your overall favorite configuration from the above list of 18, and then your five runners-up (for a grand total of six favorites) and list them in the Comments section. You can base your decision on any criteria you want. I will be taking a tally of the most popular configurations and including them in the installation. Thanks for your help!
