Tag: Improvisation

Cinefield® Miles

For all my work, I’ve always had two main goals. To develop a discernable voice and to create works which in some manner effect the viewer. The first was achieved via lots of sweat and singular concentration, while the second will be a life-long mission.

The problem with having a recognizable voice is that one can either unintentionally or out of laziness lapse into mere mannerisms. This is to be avoided at all costs. It is the motivation behind my constantly leaving my comfort zone and trying new things.

For Miles I sought to make it different than what had come previous. It can still be recognized as a sibling of the predecessors as the medium does to some extent effect the voice. The mission for this one was that I wanted the viewer to be able to go back multiple times and find new little moments occurring within to notice.

As is always the case with these works, I only use photos which I personally took. For this piece, I was fortunate to find an area which was trying to entice night people with entire buildings being lit up in purples and pinks. These colors being new to my Cini palette were a great way to further the newness I was trying to achieve. I would combine an overall different color palette with an increased rhythmic complexity.

There is no digital magic, I used my trusty scissors to cut out tiny pieces and a brush for adhesive. The piece is 11×17 inches.

I always have a sort of soundtrack when I do Cinefield® pieces. I do not merely listen to same albums over and over, the soundtrack is what i start out with and as the day goes on other things are put on. They serve as an initial mood setter. This piece’s soundtrack:

Miles Davis Big fun

The Soft Pink Truth Is It going to Get Any deeper Than This

Bennie Maupin & Adam Rudolph Symphonic Tone Poem For Brother Yusef

Mozart (Rene Jacobs conducting) La Clemenza di Tito

(C) 2024 Wayne Wolfson not for use without permission

by Wayne Wolfson

Anniversary of a Close Call

With each of my Cinefield® pieces I try to one up myself or stretch forms in some manner. For this piece, I wanted to create a work where one can go back and even with repeated viewings find new little moments. I feel it succeeded, this being the most rhythmically complex piece I have ever done (so far!).

In the past, I have not gone into certain aspects common to the creation of all Cinefield® pieces as I was conscious of it sounding too close to boasting. All the images are from photos which I personally took. I always have a rough outline of what I am doing in pencil on the paper. However, when I look at the photos I use, often limiting myself to one or two which I just print in multiple copies, I do not know what will go where. I can have two copies of the same photo and cut them up completely differently. All the pieces are very tiny. I do not know what tiny piece goes where until I am laying it down.

I work with anywhere from one to three 11×17 sheets on tiny paper confetti sized pieces. I stand at table looking at the paper w/pencil outline for design and then see what I have cut up and where I feel it should go. What this means is that every Cinefield® which represents hundreds of hours per piece, each work session is an act of complete improvisation.

This piece is 11×17 . no digital magic, just my trusty scissors and adhesive applied with brush.

A.I & art. There is still a misconception about A.I generated artwork. A.I, if you ask it to create a city scene, does not spontaneously create a work from scratch. It pulls different aspects of pre existing work by others to create a sort of frankensteined version, more often than not without permission of the original artists. Copyright your works before doing anything with them, this includes posting on social media. If your work blatantly shows the artist’s hand i.e it looks done by hand, it’s not as much a worry as mediums such as photos et al.

by Wayne Wolfson

Sculptures

I have been doing sculptures for years but always  looked upon them as a largely private matter.

Mostly, they are done just to keep the juices flowing. I had not really ever had  any intent to show or sell them.

Stylistically, they are akin to some of what Cy Twombly, Jack Whitten & Robert Rauschenberg had done. They are  one part totemic object, one part a sort of a chronicle of a moment and place. Intuitively I came up with my own rules which served me well from the get go. I will only use materials that are on hand and of the time and place that I am at. This lends a strong improvisational element to my sculptures while also allowing the place to dictate important aspects of the work’s voice.

It is “easy” compared to my other visual work since there is no pre plan and so a piece can never be wrong. Working in a different manner and medium from my other work has led me to view my process in a new light which ultimately adds to my chops and palette.

A few people having seen some of them, understood what they were about and even liked them. I would have considered it an achievement to have had even one person “get it” . So many more than that, it melted my resolve for them to remain unseen. Of course I fully realize that they are not going to be everybody’s cup of tea.  I am sure too, that there will be people that really enjoy my paintings and drawings but are left cold by these.

They are varying degrees of sturdy. Most done on the road, if not gifted would not make it home. And even left behind as a memento, they often have a limited lifespan. Others on account of the nature of the materials used, start to die the moment that they are born. The winner always in a fatal game.

This fragility makes it so that my sculptures are often three works in one. There is the conception and creation of the piece. Then there is the physical work itself for however long it lasts and lastly the photo of the piece.

Even knowing that some will not physically last, I have not photographed every sculpture i have ever done. I like the idea of their existence being akin to hearing a piece of music or poem. It can give pleasure and add to you in some way but its intangible.

Give me a pencil nubbin and scrap of paper and I am pleased. I do not need everything I do to be worthy of being framed or even seen. I get a huge pleasure now in the process. This is a major aspect of my sculptures importance to myself. The process is the pay off intellectually and spiritually.

W.Wolfson ’19

 

“Monkey Bird”

“Cecil Taylor”

“One Eyed Face”  (This one is actually very sturdy being wood & Steel)

by Wayne Wolfson