A set before the tape is removed. Watching the terrific documentary The Cruise the other day and the "the grid plan" scene reminded me that I'd not posted a whole lot about the grid technique I most often use to make these pieces. Why and how is this even a part of the project?
The idea of laying out the blank boards came early on after I'd been making individual pieces to trade with friends. I wanted to have some color down on the blindingly blank white paper boards just to get things going. I set a handful of boards on a table and arranged them together so I could spray paint across them all at the same time. The wind came up a bit [maybe it was from the spray paint can?] and caused some to flutter around and flip over. I used some rocks and masking tape to secure them to the table and later when I saw the cool, defined edges made from taping off parts of the cards I really liked it. The taped off sections were still white and I experimented with taping them off and the Grid Plan followed after that.
The idea of laying out the blank boards came early on after I'd been making individual pieces to trade with friends. I wanted to have some color down on the blindingly blank white paper boards just to get things going. I set a handful of boards on a table and arranged them together so I could spray paint across them all at the same time. The wind came up a bit [maybe it was from the spray paint can?] and caused some to flutter around and flip over. I used some rocks and masking tape to secure them to the table and later when I saw the cool, defined edges made from taping off parts of the cards I really liked it. The taped off sections were still white and I experimented with taping them off and the Grid Plan followed after that.
We're Gonna Need a Bigger Table
The same set with the tape removed. Aside from how terrific the photo borders looked I also loved the fact that I'd found a way to make a whole lot of these in one sitting as opposed to doing them one by one.
Using a table with a larger surface meant more pieces could be produced and it was common to use a ping pong table that was stored in a friends garage to work on 75 to 100 pieces at a time. It was easier to tape these cards off if you had someone give you a hand and that’s where the real collaborative stuff happened.
Often my friends and I would meet after school or on the weekends and make more cards. A few of us would get the ping-pong table all set up with the cards taped off in a grid and then we’d just start in with painting.
We’d just talk and have drinks and goof around as we painted across the entire surface with a goal in mind of covering up the blue painters tape and removing the memory of there being separate pieces but were able to see it as a whole.
Using a table with a larger surface meant more pieces could be produced and it was common to use a ping pong table that was stored in a friends garage to work on 75 to 100 pieces at a time. It was easier to tape these cards off if you had someone give you a hand and that’s where the real collaborative stuff happened.
Often my friends and I would meet after school or on the weekends and make more cards. A few of us would get the ping-pong table all set up with the cards taped off in a grid and then we’d just start in with painting.
We’d just talk and have drinks and goof around as we painted across the entire surface with a goal in mind of covering up the blue painters tape and removing the memory of there being separate pieces but were able to see it as a whole.
And this is where I started learning a lot from the exercise and saw it as more of a form of meditation than about anything else and that's essentially how I still see it to this day.
One early 'policy' was that if any of us were rotating around the table and noticed another person paying close attention to a certain section of the boards then we'd ruin it immediately. It'd get mercilessly scribbled out and you'd be chided for being too much of a darling about things.
| The interview with Stephen Layton is a good one and goes on to tell more about the Grid Plan. Click that image right there to read it. |  |
I'm going to go ahead and post this now just to ensure it doesn't languish in the drafts folder for a year. But I am already fleshing out the rest of the story about how the One Thousand Thousand project is important and why I've been so obsessed with doing it for all these years and why I bother everyone I know to give it a try.
And, holy smokes! If you've not see The Cruise then at least watch the Grid Plan scene.
And, holy smokes! If you've not see The Cruise then at least watch the Grid Plan scene.
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