drawing
- Museum number
- 1996,0928.9
- Description
-
Vapor drawing MSHFBK # 8; grey-black metallic horizontal stripes. 1978
Fine metallic and non-metallic substances applied to paper
- Production date
- 1978
- Dimensions
-
Height: 988 millimetres
-
Width: 697 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
- The artist has worked in New Mexico since 1973. This work is part of an ongoing body of work that arose from his interest in using the refraction of light to create visual and spatial paradoxes, which he first manifested in a series of glass-panelled sculptures and installations. He developed a special vacuum technique to coat the glass with thin layers of fine metallic and non-metallic substances in order to create a surface that was both reflective and translucent and in 1978 decided to apply the same process to paper, which he has pursued in a variety of different ways since.
He wrote to Frances Carey on 3/15/96 stating "In the Vapor Drawings the composition was worked directly on the paper surfaces through a series of stencils and a plating process called vacuum depostion. This work used extremely thin layers of metals, and non-metallic substances such as quartz, to reflect, refract, and interfere with the light dispersed by the texture of the paper surface. The interfered-with light appeared as color or light reflecting bands and had the typical gradient quality of my sculptures. In the case where color was seen in the imagery there is no pigment. It is interference color. There is no precedent for this type of work.".
The Vapor Drawings led to a series of Mirage Vapor Drawings, which used collage to explore light-reflecting or -absorbing layers and texture. The artist describes his Vapor Drawings as "the more minimal, [with] an extremely subtle surface quality", while "The Mirage Vapor Drawings appear to be more expressive and improvisational, with a serious attempt at the illusion of volume". But "they are in fact both very spontaneous, and improvisational. The Vapor Drawings were my first attempt at extending my work into two dimensions since my primary activity had always been sculpture. The Mirage works were the next step."
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1996
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1996,0928.9