Masking fluid in excelsis!
The inspiration for this piece was the mysterious, poorly printed
hal-tone thumbnail image of Goya in
an Edwardian encyclopedia - complete with gothic font caption - and
blown
up out of all proportion. The Harmsworth's Encyclopedia has been a
constant
source of reference and delight. A complete set was given to me by a
friend
of my father's when I was in my teens. When I left home to do a degree,
my brother took it on permanent loan and I never got it back, but
rediscovered
it in my local Reference Library and used it copiously for early
Beginners
books. Alas, ... one day I went in and the encyclopedia was no longer
there.
On enquiry, I was offered the entire set for very little and once more
my
studio plays home to these profusely illustrated volumes. The Goya
illustration
was of a strangely degraded visual nature and at the time I was using
photocopiers
and an old (very hot) epidiascope to manipulate and hugely enlarge
images. Hence the
wraithe-like features which emerge from washes of colour. Since the
advent of the internet I have been able to source pictorial source
material on a global scale.
>Ride a bike