Contemporary Visual Artist
surface bpm. 2023
surface BPM is a new series of six pieces of work in the theory and sketching phase in which
I am pushing the paint along the surface for as long as the silence between the ticks of a metronome. Concentrating on keeping an even pressure and speed, each completed painting will be the result of following specific beats per minute - from 20 BPM to 250 BPM - contained within a 2D surface area of 100x70cm. I describe the tempos from slow to quick as knead, stroke, sweep, slice, strike and attack. In my work, movement and rhythm play a critical part in maintaining an even continuity of tone, and the Italian term 'tempo rubato' describes the discretionary timing I use to control it, so, being constrained by an exact beat imposes further restrictions and limitations. I have already discovered that as the tempo increases, the push and pulling of paint during the silence shifts to harmonise with the beat, so that by 70 BPM whether I am moving on the silence between beats or on the beat itself is ambiguous. By 250 BPM, the speed is so fast, I'm unable to evaluate, keeping focus on the stability of my movements and pressure.
enquiry.
movement | momentum | inertia | mass | velocity | acceleration | infinity | force | friction | resistance motion | time | flow | speed | rest | space | pressure | weight | matter | intention | action | rhythm | tempo push | pull | repetition limitation | restriction | accident | assessment | reassessment | decision.
research.
Chillida | Newton | Galileo | Laban | Nietzsche | Deleuze | Heraclitus | Augustine of Hippo.
In conversation with Dr. Stuart Clark, Astrophysicist and Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Researchers: Professor Anders Rydberg and researchers from Uppsala University | UU Department of Engineering Sciences, whose experiments on the wave-like nature of something called a Rydberg state revealed a way to measure time that doesn't require a precise starting point.
Francesco Arneodo, Professor of Physics at New York University.
the paintings.
surface BPM. extremely slow (knead) at 20 BPM
surface BPM. very slow (stroke) at 40 BPM
surface BPM. rather slow at (sweep) at 60 BPM seconds per minute
surface BPM. at ease (slice) at 70 BPM
surface BPM. heart-rate sweet spot (strike) at 140 BPM
surface BPM. extremely fast (attack) at 250 BPM
metronome.