THE LOVE SERIES

This section is a collection of items related to the LOVE series of works. You can view videos, writings and images that relate to the series. Take some time to explore and be sure to leave your responses by clicking the word 'comment' at the bottom of each item. Join the discussion!

Love Writing

Love Series Introduction

The most effective way for me to articulate this series of work is compartmentalize the process. I separate my relationship with piece in two parts, one part teacher one part student. To connect the two parts I will use four simple components Content, Process, Materials and Presentation to bridge the bridge the gap.

CONTENT

The main content of the piece is found in the title of the work which is ‘How Much Do You Love Me’ but found in the piece is the response ‘This Is How Much I Love You!’ The piece communicates by using an extracted part of an intimate dialogue (with my spouse). Where one party looks to quantify or validate the others love for oneself. The piece functions differently depending on which character you choose to be. At its core the exchange is at best cliché’ and a bit embarrassing but true. Usually the response to ‘how much do you love me? Is a suggestion of something infinite like the ‘stars in the sky’ or the ‘sand on the beach’. The main focus (content) of the piece is to personify the idea of the infinite measure. Using love as the reference it allows the subject love to be defined and redefined over and over again. The idea of love encompasses so many things at once. The immediate theme of the work is personal and at first hokey, and a bit embarrassing but later has much broader and less obvious implications.

The work redefines love as honor, respect and dedication to a particular person, or any person, or anything, or any action. It doesn’t only suggest infinity in an additive way; but also addresses the subject of love in terms of tolerance and discipline. Also the piece investigates love within the context of an intimate relationship. As well as social or political relationship to society and lastly a measure of validation yourself against yourself. I chose only to use the text to keep the imagination of the viewer as universal as possible.

PROCESS

The earlier versions of the piece were silkscreen on double-sided 15ft. canvas. The paper cut silkscreen created a static texture, which before long became almost unreadable. Having the phrase ‘this is how much I love you!’ gradually deconstruct then become clear again helps reinforce the abstract nature of the subject while taking the response way beyond a normal level of attention in to a something more hypnotic or like a hallucination. Each phrase is printed individually so the pattern doesn’t get noticeably redundant. I thought this might allow the viewer to specify his own interpretation of the work and also add to a kind of sadistic/obsessive act of printing this pattern line by line.

MATERIAL

With this version of the work being 100 ft. long I wanted to use a material that would as the work traveled appear lighter and lighter and that could layer to create density. The plastic visquene seemed appropriate because it was translucent which allowed both natural and artificial light to participate with piece. I want to appropriate the site specificity of each presentation regardless of the length. I spray painted the same stencil I used for the silkscreen to produce the phrase. Also the spray paint adhered to the plastic much better than the printing ink. Also it gave me almost the same static texture that the silkscreen provided.

PRESENTATION

The major component of the piece is the scroll itself. The installation can find new formations depending on the venue. I have created a structure inspired by a newspaper printing press which soles purpose is the exaggerate the length of the work allowing it at times even to integrate with the ceiling. This also gives the viewer to view the scroll for more dynamic points of view. The physicality of the presentation suggests that there is no end to the work.

CONCLUSION

These four components work in collaboration with each other with a single goal of sparking curiosity and hopefully evoking a sense of the immediate and familiar about our feeling of love for each other, for society and for ourselves.