Pictures and Words
Michael Harold
Red Moon, 1983
Oil on canvas, 20"h x 16"w
For a long time I had been dreaming paintings. I would find myself in a strange city, usually at night, looking for a clean, well-lighted place. The building I settled on would always be in the heart of downtown, a museum or a gallery or an office building with a gallery in it. For the remainder of the dream I would move from room to room, looking at the art. Sometimes I would see something I really liked and I would tell myself, "You have to remember this when you wake up."
This is a landscape. The figure on the promontory, or hull of a nuclear submarine, whichever way you want to look at it, is John Dee's hieroglyphic Monad, from his mystical treatise on symbolic language, the Monas Heiroglyphica.
Oil on canvas, 20"h x 16"w
For a long time I had been dreaming paintings. I would find myself in a strange city, usually at night, looking for a clean, well-lighted place. The building I settled on would always be in the heart of downtown, a museum or a gallery or an office building with a gallery in it. For the remainder of the dream I would move from room to room, looking at the art. Sometimes I would see something I really liked and I would tell myself, "You have to remember this when you wake up."
This is a landscape. The figure on the promontory, or hull of a nuclear submarine, whichever way you want to look at it, is John Dee's hieroglyphic Monad, from his mystical treatise on symbolic language, the Monas Heiroglyphica.
The first sixty-nine prime numbers in binary, 1983
Oil on canvas, 20"h x 16"w
When you look at the world around you, it is obvious that most of the people in charge are more than happy to believe that they are in charge for a reason, that reason being their adherence to some form of absolute truth -- economic, political, religious, hereditary, or whatever. In response to this hard-headedness, many of the intelligentsia have embraced a contemporary European philosophy that is, outside of Einstein, as relative as it gets. I do have great respect for post-structuralism, but when logical push comes to shove, I'll place my bets with Alan Turing, Kurt Gödel, Noam Chomsky and Roger Penrose. I remain convinced that Plato, as out-of-fashion as he has been for the past 50 years, had a point.
This painting is a Turing machine that generates prime numbers (the colored ones). The painter (me) is the read/write head. In the larger image you can see the painted paper tape.
Oil on canvas, 20"h x 16"w
When you look at the world around you, it is obvious that most of the people in charge are more than happy to believe that they are in charge for a reason, that reason being their adherence to some form of absolute truth -- economic, political, religious, hereditary, or whatever. In response to this hard-headedness, many of the intelligentsia have embraced a contemporary European philosophy that is, outside of Einstein, as relative as it gets. I do have great respect for post-structuralism, but when logical push comes to shove, I'll place my bets with Alan Turing, Kurt Gödel, Noam Chomsky and Roger Penrose. I remain convinced that Plato, as out-of-fashion as he has been for the past 50 years, had a point.
This painting is a Turing machine that generates prime numbers (the colored ones). The painter (me) is the read/write head. In the larger image you can see the painted paper tape.
Mask, 1983
Oil on wood, watercolor on plaster, 24"h x 20"w
One of the things I like to do is look at written images, images that are made with techniques similar to writing. Beginning with paleolithic cave paintings, I have observed recurrent patterns that occur again and again across time and continents. I am especially interested in those patterns associated with states of consciousness generally referred to as meditative, spiritual, mystic, hallucinogenic, etc. I used to copy all sorts of signs and ideograms into notebooks, drawing my favorites over and over until it became a type of automatic writing.
The purple image at the top of the mask is a copy of a "spirit trap" from the caves at Lascaux.
Oil on wood, watercolor on plaster, 24"h x 20"w
One of the things I like to do is look at written images, images that are made with techniques similar to writing. Beginning with paleolithic cave paintings, I have observed recurrent patterns that occur again and again across time and continents. I am especially interested in those patterns associated with states of consciousness generally referred to as meditative, spiritual, mystic, hallucinogenic, etc. I used to copy all sorts of signs and ideograms into notebooks, drawing my favorites over and over until it became a type of automatic writing.
The purple image at the top of the mask is a copy of a "spirit trap" from the caves at Lascaux.
Spirit Trap, 1984
Acrylic on paper on wood, 24"h x 24"w
I believe that languge is genetic and species specific. That is why I was not surprised to find that the oldest symbol in the paleolithic caves of Europe was a grid. You can draw a nearly straight line from Euclid, to Decartes, to Newton, to Riemann, to Planck, Einstein, Heisenberg, Feynman and J.S. Bell with a grid.
I also believe, without any feeling of contradiction, that the "absolute reality" that underlies everything we see is the result of a potentiality that is not constrained by language, but just the opposite -- even where mathematics and science and all other forms of reason are concerned.
Acrylic on paper on wood, 24"h x 24"w
I believe that languge is genetic and species specific. That is why I was not surprised to find that the oldest symbol in the paleolithic caves of Europe was a grid. You can draw a nearly straight line from Euclid, to Decartes, to Newton, to Riemann, to Planck, Einstein, Heisenberg, Feynman and J.S. Bell with a grid.
I also believe, without any feeling of contradiction, that the "absolute reality" that underlies everything we see is the result of a potentiality that is not constrained by language, but just the opposite -- even where mathematics and science and all other forms of reason are concerned.
Hypercube, 1986
Acrylic on paper on wood, 24"h x 24"w
Artists are some of the worst about doing this sort of thing. "Variaton on a variation on a . . . "
A hypercube is what you get when you take a cube and move it in time. To draw it, you start with a cube, move it in any direction, stop, and then draw lines between the corresponding corners. When you think about it, a hypercube occupies all points in 3D space at the same time. So does a hypersphere or a hyper any other type of object. A picture like this is just a 3D snapshot of a 4D object, similar to a cross-section or 2D slice of a 3D object.
Acrylic on paper on wood, 24"h x 24"w
Artists are some of the worst about doing this sort of thing. "Variaton on a variation on a . . . "
A hypercube is what you get when you take a cube and move it in time. To draw it, you start with a cube, move it in any direction, stop, and then draw lines between the corresponding corners. When you think about it, a hypercube occupies all points in 3D space at the same time. So does a hypersphere or a hyper any other type of object. A picture like this is just a 3D snapshot of a 4D object, similar to a cross-section or 2D slice of a 3D object.
Carved hypercube, 1987
Cuts on paper on wood, 24"h x 24"w
The artist Clyde Connell was a big influence in my development. It was her unselfconscious artistic integrity and her direct approach to things that had the biggest impact. She didn't separate people or anything else into arbitrary groups. She was holistic. Everything a part of nature.
I did about a dozen of these paper on wood pieces over the years because I liked the idea of a surface that resembled a cave wall or a stone surface covered with lichen. I also liked the fact that I made the papier-mâché from copies of the Wall Street Journal. The hypercube in the upper right corner is carved into the surface with a knife. When you move to either side, it disappears.
Cuts on paper on wood, 24"h x 24"w
The artist Clyde Connell was a big influence in my development. It was her unselfconscious artistic integrity and her direct approach to things that had the biggest impact. She didn't separate people or anything else into arbitrary groups. She was holistic. Everything a part of nature.
I did about a dozen of these paper on wood pieces over the years because I liked the idea of a surface that resembled a cave wall or a stone surface covered with lichen. I also liked the fact that I made the papier-mâché from copies of the Wall Street Journal. The hypercube in the upper right corner is carved into the surface with a knife. When you move to either side, it disappears.
"God" in 8-bit ASCII, 1984
Oil on canvas on panel and embroidery hoops, 36"h x 70"w
ASCII, or American Standard Code for Information Interchange, used to be the standard code for binary communications.
At the time I was thinking in terms of a universal language and its application to art. "God" seemed a good place to start.
Oil on canvas on panel and embroidery hoops, 36"h x 70"w
ASCII, or American Standard Code for Information Interchange, used to be the standard code for binary communications.
At the time I was thinking in terms of a universal language and its application to art. "God" seemed a good place to start.
"ART" in 7-bit ASCII, 1985
Oil, watercolor, crayon, acrylic and ink on paper on panel, 40"h x 72"w
A history of modernist art with references to Arp, Klee, Mondrian, Kandinsky, Picasso, . . . the usual suspects.
What can I say? Postmodernism was creeping up on me. "Slowly I turned . . . step by step, inch by inch . . . "
Oil, watercolor, crayon, acrylic and ink on paper on panel, 40"h x 72"w
A history of modernist art with references to Arp, Klee, Mondrian, Kandinsky, Picasso, . . . the usual suspects.
What can I say? Postmodernism was creeping up on me. "Slowly I turned . . . step by step, inch by inch . . . "
"meta-" in 7-bit ASCII, 1986
Acrylic on papier-mâché on panel, edged with black or gold paint, 60"h x 72"w
As part of an artists' co-op, I had a large studio on the top floor of what had been a railroad passenger station. It was a beautiful old place. I had the space and the time and the inclination to make artifacts of this sort. Within a few years I would abandon my traditional artistic practice in favor of a process-driven, interventionist art. A fatal career move.
Acrylic on papier-mâché on panel, edged with black or gold paint, 60"h x 72"w
As part of an artists' co-op, I had a large studio on the top floor of what had been a railroad passenger station. It was a beautiful old place. I had the space and the time and the inclination to make artifacts of this sort. Within a few years I would abandon my traditional artistic practice in favor of a process-driven, interventionist art. A fatal career move.
"Finish" in ASCII, 1987
Encaustic on canvas on panel, 60"h x 72"w
Binary logic provides a convenient way to approach the study of language. Symbol strings in any language can easily be translated into equivalent symbol strings in any other language provided they are first translated into binary. Not only 1s and 0s, but any symbols will do. In this case, the two symbols are represented by something that is there and something that is not.
As you can tell, I exhibited quite a bit of naive art historical ambition in naming this stuff. Since Duchamp, it hasn't been the same. It's less about the art than the marketing.
Encaustic on canvas on panel, 60"h x 72"w
Binary logic provides a convenient way to approach the study of language. Symbol strings in any language can easily be translated into equivalent symbol strings in any other language provided they are first translated into binary. Not only 1s and 0s, but any symbols will do. In this case, the two symbols are represented by something that is there and something that is not.
As you can tell, I exhibited quite a bit of naive art historical ambition in naming this stuff. Since Duchamp, it hasn't been the same. It's less about the art than the marketing.