This book documents the project, 31 Brains for 31 Days, a drawing exercise completed by Phillip March Jones from July 9, 2008 - August 9, 2008. The artist drew one version of his "brain" every day for a month with a goal of turning abstract thought processes into line, color and form. The resulting installation is displayed as a "calendar". The book includes color reproductions of all 31 brains and 2 studies in addition to a preface written by neurosurgeon, William H. Brooks, MD.
Physician's Note:
The brain evolves from a single neuronal ganglion whose function is inflexible and genetically programmed to a nexus of neurons and neuronal fields cooperating to promote the possibility of communication and learning. Its interstices are composed of synaptic clefts where biochemical and molecular messages are relayed from singular neurons or neural fields to adjacent and/or remote areas for processing and interpretation. These electro-chemical signals pass along some connections that are necessarily ‘hard wired’ to sustain biological function (life) and other pathways demonstrating a potential for plasticity. The ability of a molecular cascade of signals to generate de novo neural interconnections, thereby linking new and differing neural fields, permit the possibilities of learning and novelty. Indeed, we are the ‘stuff’ of programmed and potential molecular signals and interconnectivity within the brain. Thus, brain function is a signpost, a code, for the biochemical and molecular consequences of these entwined neuronal networks.
Presentational immediacy is inherent in each and every actual occasion encountered by the brain. A new cascade of biochemical signals is “felt” with each experiential encounter. The biochemical consequence of this occurrence within the percipient generates a mode of causal efficacy whereby the object is molecularly reinterpreted by the nexus of neural circuitry within the singular individual. The inherent characteristics of the object that induces electro-chemical activity within the brain of the subject is deconstructed as these new stimuli activate previous neural links and call for construction of new interconnections to be interpreted by still other neuronal fields. Objects reverberate throughout the brain before conscious prehension. The mutual relatedness of the object and brain, the experience of new biochemical signals mingling through the interstices of neuronal pools, determine “what” we “really see.” Brain function permits both the caterpillar and butterfly to be “seen” in the same object, yet differently. Only the subject desires to “see” objects as they “are” rather than simulations; only objects seduce the subject that it is possible. Brain function produces only simulations that the individual person “sees” as “reality.”
Thirty-One Brains for Thirty-One Days presents a nexus of actual occasions for deconstruction and reconstruction within the particular and unique molecular neural framework of the singular individual. Each newly constructed perception now serves as code for further perceptions as it becomes captured and integrated within the circuitry of percipience. The interconnectedness of the presentational information provided by each image gains relevancy through an actively engaged brain positively and negatively prehending and deciphering the neural code. The images contained in this collection are both simulations and stimuli for brain function. Each becomes “redrawn” and encoded for future encounters with other images by the subject. Thus, the “collection” may be “seen” to be a sequential temporal composite of cerebral activity or a collection of isolated chaotic stimuli forever remaining singularities. Only the viewing, “seeing” subject “knows.”
- William H. Brooks, MD
Drawing is continuously being reinterpreted as an ever-important form of art and communication. From early childhood scribbles to notebook doodles, it has helped to present ideas that cannot otherwise be conveyed verbally. Wall-to-Wall, an exhibition of large-scale works, challenges the traditional use, scope, definition, and interpretation of drawing as a medium. The exhibition explores the process of mark-making and use of material - both in conventional and unconventional ways – to demonstrate that contemporary drawing “is no longer limited to the preparatory sketch or to pencil on paper.”¹ Instead, wall installations, drawings as sculpture, interactive pictures, and works on paper highlight the varying uses, strategies, and processes of contemporary drawing and draftsmanship. The monumental size emphasizes the over-all impact of marks as a whole, and at the same time, commands the viewer’s attention to the details, requiring one to take many approaches to the work.
Looking through the exhibition, one will notice an intermingling of themes and subject matter that weave in and out of the gallery spaces: works that are interactive, those that examine the intuitive and subconscious, and others that present mark-making as a form of mapping. These topics are by no means exhaustive in the realm of drawing nor are they meant to be presented as such. As Laura Hoptman writes, “…a form of drawing has arisen that…is attached less to process than finished product, that describes a specific object or state of mind, that maps a specific experience, [or] that tells a particular story.”²
In Jelena Berenc’s Body Drawing the audience is asked to actively engage in the artwork, inviting viewers to look through the individual sheets of paper and see the parts of her body that she has chosen to reveal. Likewise, in Nate Sensel’s Ellipses layers are removed by the viewer in order to reveal the works underneath. In both instances the drawings are shaped and transformed with the assistance of the audience, allowing them to shape and intimately view the works.
Others like Kathryn Jill Johnson and Phillip March Jones explore the subconscious in a surrealistic, intuitive, and overwhelmingly formalist approach. Johnson, in Block Party, juxtaposes images that do not relate to each other, nor would they be found together in reality, in order to see how the characters interact. Jones on the other hand is exploring his inner self and revealing his hidden truths.
Many of the artist’s use drawing as a means of recording time, thought, and space. As Franz Ackerman states “…mental maps are two-dimensional equivalents of…thought processes rather than transcriptions of what…[one] sees or experiences…”³ Mental maps are clearly the subject of artists like Colin Keefe and Michelle Dussault. These works range from the surreal, as in Keefe’s Isometric City Drawing to the physical in Dussault’s Hippo Camp. However, neither map is an accurate physical portrayal.
While the exhibition showcases works that at first glance may not seem to be drawings, it demonstrates the use of drawing as a foundation for broader reaching work. This exhibition presents twenty-five drawings, created by sixteen artists, which include installations, sculptures, and large scale works on paper. In organizing Wall-to-Wall, LAL sought to challenge perceptions of the medium and present drawing as an autonomous form of art making.
While the exhibition showcases works that at first glance may not seem to be drawings, it demonstrates the use of drawing as a foundation for broader reaching work. This exhibition presents twenty-five drawings, created by sixteen artists, which include installations, sculptures, and large scale works on paper. In organizing Wall-to-Wall, LAL sought to challenge perceptions of the medium and present drawing as an autonomous form of art making.
-Mike Deetsch, Curator
¹ Dexter, Emma. Vitamin D: New Perspectives in Drawing. London: Phaidon Press, 2005
² Hoptman, Laura. Drawing Now: Eight Propositions. Exh. cat. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2002
³ Ibid