FEBRUARY 2021
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 12-6P (BY APPOINTMENT)
ART CAKE RESIDENT ONLINE PRESENTATION SERIES
MICHAEL RADO: ORIGIN OF GEOMETRY
For the second year of the studio program, Art Cake is pleased to present an online solo presentation by participating artist, Michael Rado. On view are five new works on paper from the artist’s most recent series, titled Origin of Geometry, and a video documenting the process of creating the works. On Saturday, February 20, the artist will be on site welcoming visits from 12-6P by appointment. To reserve a time to visit in person, please email info@artcake.org.
This is the first part of a series that Art Cake has organized for the participating artists-in-residence as an opportunity to present and document their work made during the pandemic outside of the studio.
Please view the artists-in-residence for a deeper look into each artist’s studio practice.
Depth-problems of the meaning-origin, 2021
Charcoal on red rosin paper
72 x 108 inches
Space-time and the shapes, figures, 2021
Charcoal on red rosin paper
72 x 108 inches
The form of historical meditations, 2021
Charcoal on red rosin paper
72 x 108 inches
MICHAEL RADO IN CONVERSATION WITH MARINA GLUCKMAN
MG: As the first five works on paper of an ongoing series, titled Origin of Geometry, why don’t we discuss the process, material and scale, and final composition of the works? You’ve created a video documenting the process of creating the works. Could you walk us through the process a bit? How is the process intuitive and how is it controlled?
MR: Each drawing is considered both foundational and finished—they all begin with the same process of dividing the plane into a grid of squares, and then further into dynamic rectangles, which is a system of proportions popularized by Jay Hambidge as a means to constructing an ideal layout for landscape and portraiture.
The process of constructing the drawing is intuitive in the sense that I’m not thinking about it, it’s mechanical, the decisions from there, the weight of the lines, the layering of value, the interaction between layers, is controlled to a certain degree, but the use of charcoal introduces a degree of chaos.
MG: How is the center of the paper determined? And the geometric forms in relation to your body?
MR: I find a center point by folding the paper in half on both the short and long side. From there I draw an overlapping circles grid, which may look familiar, as a pattern used throughout history—Islamic, Egyptian, Roman art—and then I move through the process of dividing that grid into dynamic rectangles, sometimes implied.
MR: There is always variance within the drawing, using my arms as levers and joints as fulcrums, similar to a compass, the scale of the drawing is predetermined by my scale. There is variance and imperfection using a compass, but this is exaggerated. So there is a disconnect between reality and the ideal representation.
MG: What elements in the works are proportionate to one another?
MR: All aspects of the works are proportional to one another — the inputs are defined by the length of my limbs, and by dividing the plane into squares and dynamic rectangles, this process is infinite — so all shapes are proportional to one another, they all have a relationship to one another.
Proportion is an interesting word here, Josef Albers describes proportion as more than the relationship between length and width, but also areas and masses, which imply quantity. He also says that proportion is concerned with activity, the relationship between importance and unimportance, or quality. So there is an inherent value structure in this line of thinking.
MG: Do you render studies before working large-scale?
MR: I wouldn’t necessarily call them studies, they’re drawings made to the proportion of my wrist and hand, rather than my forearm or arm.
MG: You mentioned you were working in response to a comment about how to make paper hold its own weight. Can you share a bit about the decision to use red rosin paper for these works?
MR: There are a few elements of interest here for me — one, would be the use of this material as underlayment, or a foundation to a finish material, such as a wood floor. This paper generally isn’t seen, the same could be said for the means of geometric construction I’m using here, as an underdrawing for the finished work.
The second is the color, this is red rosin paper, the amber color coming from rosin, or Greek pitch, which may have been an early varnish. Here it acts to mimic the imprimatura, or underpainting, with a sort of sienna color that gives me a middle range for the values of charcoal.
MG: Could you possibly discuss more about the juxtaposition of materials (charcoal, paper) and mathematical compositions?
MR: The mixture of high- and low- materials here is what interests me, the paper is a construction, domestic material, the scale of the drawing is proportional to my body, and the scale of the paper is proportional to domestic architecture, which is proportional to an ideal body.
Charcoal is sometimes used as an underdrawing, again, a foundation for something never realized.
The marks themselves, are a representation of an ideal that isn’t fully realized, they can’t be the thing they represent, but the meaning is still embedded in their inaccuracy. Keith Devlin talks about the absurdity of the golden ratio being found in nature or used in design or art — it’s an irrational number, it can’t be found in nature, the decimal points go on forever — if the pyramids measure to 1.618, that’s close, but not the actual ratio. So is the square root of 2, these represent an ideal, not a reality. This is a theme I think about constantly, the reality versus the ideal.
MG: How does the Origin of Geometry series depart from other bodies of work that you have made? Both sculptural and on paper?
MR: I think about the other body related to Dynamic Symmetry, the rectangular plane suspended above the painting — this is also a plane, divided into proportions, using the same geometric means of construction, the relation to domestic space and architecture with latex paint, a vocabulary is emerging, in both materiality and thought. Those works also project an idealized relationship between proportion and representation — these works introduced something that I was missing, the process and performance, the personal aspect related to the meditative process of creating these drawings.
MG: In the past you’ve mentioned resolving a problem that is related to you but doesn’t necessarily exist, more of a self-understanding. Does this series work to explore the problem? If so, how?
MR: Thinking back, I question whether it’s a problem that doesn’t exist, or one where the answer can’t be articulated. I suppose, the problem is what I stated previously, the disconnect between reality and our ideals as humans, and our ability to project meaning onto nature, and how our systems of thinking define our reality.
From Josef Albers’ essay Truthfulness in Art, he says that proportion simply means relationship…” more than a question related to length, width, and height, it also has to do with areas, masses, and weight, which altogether means quantity. Furthermore, proportion is concerned with activity, that means the relationship between importance and unimportance, with intensity. Therefore proportion is concerned also with quality.”
