Movement as Mark

Movement as Mark
Battery
Oil paint on paper
     
          For this assignment, the class was tasked with creating marks using nontraditional methods. Instead of using a brush, pen, etc., we were to use a movement that created a mark which could not traditionally replicated. In this case, a pen could hypothetically be used, for example by fastening it to your wrist and snapping your fingers near the paper, thereby creating flicks with the ink that would be hard to reproduce any other way.

          In the case of my project, I opted for a more violent approach, so to speak. When presented with the assignment, the first thing that came to my mind was punching. What sort of mark would that leave? Originally, I toyed with the idea of coating my hands in charcoal and punching the paper. However, I decided this choice would likely leave very soft, dusty marks, and I wanted to make sure the marks created were hard and solid, so I chose oil paint.

          The process was simple enough. I tacked my paper to the wall, coated my knuckles in a thick layer of oil paint and proceeded to punch the wall numerous times, periodically reapplying paint, and terrifying classmates and nearby professors. As my knuckles began to hurt, the process slowed down, and I began to make more marked decisions about where I was punching and with what color. For the majority of the project, I used strictly black oil paint, but later added in white paint to add to the composition as well as to add in dialogue about whether or not battery is truly black and white. Because the white was applied after the black, and because oil paint does not dry rapidly, the white ended up mixing in somewhat with the black, creating blueish-grey values across the paper.

          The title, therefore, is not difficult to guess. Battery, the legal term for unwanted touched, usually violent, of another person, is clear to see, given the innately violent system of creating the marks. However, it has a double meaning. A battery is also a cartridge of energy. The act of releasing energy by means of punching is not knew to the human race. When children are upset, it is not uncommon for them to punch a pillow or even a wall. Adults, too, are no stranger to this method of dispersing energy.

          Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this project. It was definitely fun to make up little stories to explain the bruises on my knuckles for the few days they were there, and I quite like how to overall image turned out.

                                                                                     

Lauren Curtis