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Leonardo, Vol. 10, pp. 221-222. Pergamon Press 1977. Printed in Great Britain INTERRELATI0NAL PICTORIAL DESlGN: ‘FABRICAT1ONS’ Joseph Germana* 1. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND a. Wittgenstein wrote: ‘The results of philosophy are the uncovering of one or another piece of plain nonsense and of bumps that the understanding has got by running its head against the limitsof language. These bumps make us see the value of the discovery’[I]. To Marcel Duchamp, these ‘bumps’ were amusing [2], and he carried out demonstrations that the irony inherent in signs can be brought to the surface by confronting the limits of logic and language. b. Simplyconsidered, a sign is other than its referent, and, therefore, does not tell the whole truth about it. Conversely, a sign may designate other than its intended referent on any given occasion, so that it inherently possesses the capacity to suggest irony-it is protoironical . On the basis of this characterization of signs, I have made some ‘Fabrications’. As compositions that depict the adventures and misadventures of signs,they are intended to be amusing. 2. DESCRIPTIONS OF SEVERAL ‘FABRICATIONS’ a. ‘DADA (Fig. 1) In this composition, I have used nine systematic repetitions of a nonsense trigram to establish a whole whose nonsense is other than the nonsense of the constituent parts, in whichcase,they do make somesense. Or, nonsense in one sense becomes sense in another. Fig. 1. ‘DADA’,ink on castcoat. 29.5 x 29.5 cm, 1975. b. ‘Mondrian Valentine’ (Fig. 2) A white square is oriented on the diagonal against a black background. I have cut out its top comer and placed it on the lower left side of the square. I interpret these simple acts in terms of a metaphysical transformation : a formal diamond shape becomes a romantically sentimental ‘heart pierced by an arrow’. c. ‘The Ascent of Man’ (Fig. 3) I have mounted two Xerox photocopies ‘antagonistically ’. Each copy contains three elements: the title, a quote from J. L. Borges on the ‘Hippogriff [3], and what I call a futuristic ‘Xeroid’. The ‘Xeroid’ is a Xerox photocopy of a Polaroid photograph of an oscilloscope trace, and, as such, I consider it a modern ‘second generation monster or invention’-logically equivalent, in this respect, to the ‘Hippogriff with its 2000-year ancestry. The work is intended to suggest that, at these abstract levels of logic and language, the ascent of man during this period has levelled off. d. ‘Violin and Picasso’ (Fig. 4) The composition consists of two collages in one ‘Fabrication’. A diagonal band of bits of material is intended to give an impression of a violin. On each sideof this collage are parts taken from a reproduction of a * Artist and psychophysiologist, Dept. of Psychology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, U S A . (Received 8 November 1975.) Fig. 2. ‘Mondrian Valentine’,castcoat with incisionson castcoat, 29.5 x 29.5 cm, 1975. 221 222 Joseph Germana Fig.3. 'ThcA.went ofMan',puperonfoumc,or.53 x 46 cm, 1974. collage by Picasso entitled 'Violin and Fruit' ( 1912-1 913). The 'Fabrication' establishes a conceptual relation between these two abstractions, which I interpret to mean that the split 'Violin and Fruit' has been transformed into 'Violin and Picasso'. Acknowledgements Michael Strawn of Prodesign, Inc., Blacksburg. VA., provided technical assistance in the reproduction of these Fig. 4. 'Violinand Pic,as.so', puppYr on foumcor, 36 x 28 cm, 1974. 'Fabrications'. and the help of Marilyn Shaw, artist and teacher, was essential to my development of them. References I . 2. 3. L. Wittgenstein. Philosophicul Ini~c~.stigutions (New York: Macmillan. 1953)Sec. No. 119. P. Cabanne. Diu1ogue.s with Morcd Duchcniip (London: Thames & Hudson, 1971) p. 47. J. L. Borges. The Book of'Iniaginar~Beings (New York: E. P. Dutton. 1969)p. 129. ...

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