Fugitive and Archival: The Disappearing Print and the Drawing Left Behind

At my web site, in the section entitled "Change and Transformation," is a body of work in which, over the course of time, 40-50% of the visual information will fade away (see Color Plate A No. 2). This loss of information will present a new image to the viewer. What the final image will look like is unknown, even to the artist. Each work of art comes in a set of two images: one capable of change and transformation and the other permanent (archival). Both images are 4.5 x 6 in.

The major intent of this series is the illustration of complexity and the potential for change. Much of the complexity within this work is invisible. It will make itself visible as the work changes. The archival portion of this artwork is done in pencil (graphite). The "fugitive" information is the ink from an Epson printer.

The ink from an inkjet printer is fugitive. As the print fades, information is lost until nothing is left save the void where the image once existed. This, of course, is unacceptable.

It occurred to me that if I added visual information to the print using an archival medium, such as graphite pencil, the fading print would lead to a change in the visual elements of the work of art. It did not take long to realize that the archival imagery had to look different from the fugitive information of the print. At the same time, I had to take into account the manner in which the print-drawing would look as a finished work of art. I had to develop a methodology that would consider the present and the future. I had to create a device that would store visual information for future use.

Here is how it would work. If one were to surround a black fugitive circle with a black archival pigment of the same value, the black circle would be invisible within the image. The combined black region would also be visible data in that view of the image. As the black circle faded, that region would give way to a circle, first in tones of gray, then through the continuum to white.

This description is only a metaphor for how I work. The actual process is far more complex and abstract and takes into consideration the full visual continuum between the visible and the invisible. As an artist, I must be conscious of the original image that will fade, the drawing that will not and how they look together. If the two images could be separated, the drawing and the print would be complete, and very different works of art.

When drawing on the fugitive print, it is imperative to remember what has been drawn and where it has been placed. This process can be rather difficult. Much of what is drawn is invisible, such as black archival (graphite) upon black fugitive (ink). They both look the same. To ease this difficulty, I draw complete statements within small sections from right to left and from top to bottom.

Only time will determine whether or not this body of work is successful. This uncertainty is what excites me: not knowing the outcome is analogous to life; the fading print, its metaphor.

This body of work is the result of a question I asked some 20 years ago. I questioned what would happen if art were taken into higher levels of complexity. What I discovered was that, as the complexity of the artwork increased, at some point change and transformation came into play. The more complex a work of art becomes, the more it is subject to change.