Visual Research
Suites of six drawings all based on the subject of “Still Life”, drawn over a long period of time using the same objects (see Inventory of Still Life Objects) and a wide variety of media and styles. Suites of six drawings made up of working drawings made by other individuals (as copies of mine) and assembled into groups. A series of reliefs/constructions/sculptures made as studies (rather than maquettes) based on the drawings and using mixed media. Ideally these would be shown in an adjoining gallery to the main pieces.
Remarks on Sources, Content and Form
“The first Law of Thermodynamics states that all matter and energy in the universe is constant, that it cannot be created or destroyed. The second law, the Entropy Law, states that matter and energy can only be changed in one direction, that is, from usable to unusable, or from available to unavailable, or from ordered to disordered.
“In essence, the second law of thermodynamics says that everything in the entire universe began with structure and value and is irrevocably moving in the direction of random chaos and waste. Entropy is a measure of the extent to which available energy in any sub-system of the universe is transformed into an unavailable form. According to the Entropy Law, whenever a semblance of order is created anywhere on the Earth or in the universe (e.g. in this piece of work) it is done at the expense of causing an even greater disorder in the surrounding environment” (Rifkin, 1980)
Both laws of thermodynamics can be stated in one sentence: “The total energy content of the universe is constant and the total entropy is continually increasing.” (Asimov, 1970)
“(the laws of thermodynamics) control, in the last resort, the rise and fall of political systems, the freedom or bondage of Nations, the movements of commerce and industry, the origins of wealth and poverty, and the general physical welfare of the (human) race.” (Frederick Soddy)
Every single activity that humankind engages in is totally subject to the iron-clad imperitive expressed in the first and second laws of thermodynamics.
“It should be emphasised that the Entropy Law deals only with the physical world where everything is finite and where all living things must run their course and eventually cease to be. It is a law governing the horizontal world of time and space. It is mute, however, when it comes to the vertical world of spiritual transcendence. The spiritual plain is not governed by the iron-clad dictates of the Entropy Law. The spirit is a non-material dimension where there are no boundaries and no fixed limits to attend to. The relationship of the physical to the spiritual is the relationship of a small part to the larger unbound whole within which it unfolds. While the Entropy Law governs the world of time, space and matter, it is, in turn, governed by the primordial spiritual force that conceived it.” (Rifkin, 1980)
Within this piece of work is an attempt to transform rejected physical material into images of artistic and spiritual meaning.
Formal Elements
The title comes from the literary references quoted and from the location of my studio where I began to work on the piece – on the West Bay at North Berwick in East Lothian, Scotland. The oeuvre of “Still Life” was chosen for several reasons. One, it exists within the western tradition of Fine Art practice and so places the piece within this tradition. Two, it is accessible and so draws the onlooker in through its manifest form. Three, the objects used (strictly chosen and regulated – see the Inventory of Still Life Objects) embody the idea of entropy in terms of decay, decomposition or energy transformation – all the objects (and of course, the artist and the viewers) are decomposing, or the energy they contain is always changing, at different rates within the schema of the piece. An apple set out for drawing will decompose at a faster erate than the bowl in which it sits. The artist drawing the objects will decompose at a rate somewhere between the two (tending towards the apple). If these two objects (the apple and the bowl) are transformed into an image, made from the same material, it comes within the power of the maker to equalize their rates of decomposition. If the material be paper or wood, then again the rate of decomposition falls somewhere between the two actual objects; it follows that it lies within the artists choices to reverse these rates (e.g. make the apple out of stone, the bowl out of fabric) or more closely follow nature (make the bowl out of clay and use a real apple in the piece in such a way that it’s decomposition can be observed). The bowl or apple could be carved out of butter or ice, diamond or tungsten – the artist, living in the real world, can also regulate or change his or her rate of decomposition by judicious formulation of diet, taking exercise, smoking – or not – tobacco, racing powerful motorcycles, meditating etc. We – everything has some lee-way but nothing can escape, eventually, the law of entropy. Four, all the images brought together in the pieces derive from direct observation, transformed by the filtering action of my consciousness and extrapolated by intuition, imagination and other internal and external processes. The initial impetus is provided by direct observation and contact with the media, underpinned by the quoted text and theory. A secondary input would be from drawings made by other individuals in the form of copies or interpretations of my original working drawings. I would use these directly in the formation of images for the piece – the collective unconscious of the joint collaborators would engender an archetypal element, or universality, that would affect the way in which the finished work is perceived.
Form
The two versions are made up of five sections each, arranged in such a way that the spaces (negatives) between the sections (positives) equal each other. The pieces could be turned back on themselves and fit perfectly – be congruent. In situ the two pieces will also mirror, or reflect each other. The internal rhythms of the two pieces will be in-tune, harmonize and resonate the one with the other. The forms involved will span the negative spaces so that the rhythms of the forms will continue through space – a space/time continuum will be invoked that can be related to the entropic law at work externally within the universe and internally within us.
One piece will be external – coming off the five sections of the piece into the sculptural space, or the real space of the onlooker, inhabiting the space of the gallery. The forms will be accessible, tactile, open to scrutiny, layered, offering a manifest reality that shares the space with the viewer, allowing them to relate with, or accommodate the positive, extravert qualities of the relationships of spaces, solids, shadows, rhythms, speeds, energy movements that communicate the meaning or content of the piece through encounter.
One piece will be internal, the five sections taking the form of glazed boxes (the forms still spanning and connecting through the intervening spaces). This version will pull the onlooker into a secret, inner world of reverie (containing hidden, unconscious, latent elements, fragments of dream freely associated with the form of still life – or more tellingly “nature-morte”, inner spaces (e.g. of boxes, corners, cups), shadows, the hidden, dark side of objects in space, mirrors, reflections, found objects that become “equivalents” for the real, completely hidden (repressed) elements known only to the maker, magical, ritualistic, talismanic. Also included will be objects or small art-works sent by other individuals, some open to the maker, some wrapped, their form concealed.) The spatial relationships of the still-life objects can connect with the inner relationships of the psyche.
The two versions will compliment each other and be in constant dialogue, a theatre of opposites; the tension between the two re-presenting the condition, or the environment, in which the onlooker exists.
Ray Hopley,
Boskennal
1995
The Idea of Entropy at West Bay
“… With every occurrence in the world, entropy increases – but sometimes slower, sometimes faster. Its speed depends upon how many babies are being born, how many blades of grass are dying, how many cars are being built, how many raindrops are falling to the ground, how much wind is blowing, and how many pebbles are being ground into sand as the waves wash up on the beaches of the world.” (Rifkin, 1985)
