The Ship Of Fools Suite

 Since around 2018 I've been wanting to make a series of multi-panel pieces (polyptychs) instead of trying to pile all of the imagery into one piece, I've wanted to have the viewing experience be more like experiencing movements in a piece of music.  The first step in making this idea a physical reality (to even test out, much less create something I'm excited about) is to create a bunch of panels/compositions.

Here are a couple batches of panel configurations just to see how the various pieces interacted with each other.  I also would like to note that out of all the panels you see in these two images, I think only two of them actually made it into my show Citizen Beige.

Seeing these configurations was enough to let me know I was on the right track and I should pursue more.  The next step was a much more specific grouping called Ship of Fools.  It looked like this:

Promising.

So for what turned out to be the next step, Blueprint, it took some learning/growing/encountering something new on my part for me to be able to proceed making something.

At the heart of the Ship of Fools/Blueprint Suite lies a reality of American history I was unaware of for far too long.  Embarrassingly too long.  I've gone to some good schools.  I've done well at them.  This material was never covered.  Not. One. Word.  So I am going to include links to 2 videos (taken from a SEA OF VIDEOS on the topic) that can elucidate the topic of racism built into the foundations of our nations' suburbs.

This is a 'general video':  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geD6kYpGlmw

This is a Levittown video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peMurrAVGmQ

A video on Levittown was what I initially saw.  I'll give you the short version: After World War II there was a housing shortage for G.I.s returning from duty.  To meet this new demand William Levitt sought to build a whole bunch of homes in a short period of time  Like a house every 15 minutes short period of time.  This was crazy.  This had never been done before.  The only entity that would put forth that kind of money to fund such an endeavor was the Federal Government.  The Federal Government (or more accurately some subset of the government) insisted that language be put into the deeds of the homes of Levittown that the houses could only be sold to Caucasians and could not be re-sold to non-Caucasians.  The language in the property deeds of Levittown served as the unofficial blueprint for suburbs throughout the country.

Having some experience with cyanotypes, the idea of a visual blueprint is what stuck with me.  Here are some examples of my cyanotype work.

Now to take the idea of a blueprint, along with my drawings, and make a piece.  I new I wanted to make it flag-esque, so stars would be needed.  Lots of stars.

Lots of STARS...

Once all the stars were cut out they needed to be wrapped in fabric and then adhered to the canvas surface.

Once the stripes and stars were in place it was time time prime the canvas several times and then start adding washes of blue to build up the rich color of a cyanotype. This is the first wash of blue (multiple different blues).

I would have to wait over a year to land in my new studio before I could resume working on any of this.

But a year later I did just that.  So now it was time to start adding all of the white lines that would give the feel of an architectural blueprint, but obviously different.

Let the line work begin!

Gonna need a parking lot...

Rows and rows of houses.  Gotsta have them houses!

Here's what The Blueprint looks like all by its lonesome.

Then it was time to test out a few configurations/relationships to start forming the suite.

Two of the early inclusion panels didn't make the final cut.  Editing is a challenging task to do as an artist.  Sometimes it is easier to bring in a trusted outsider-set-of-eyes to see more clearly what is essential and what needs to go.

This is how it all came together for Citizen Beige.

Until next time...