#168 Lateral Inversion

Lateral in this context means sideways. The works in the diptych are done with the left and the right-hand drawing in the wet filler simultaneously.

The human body, as most organic life forms are symmetrical around a centric axe. There is something uncanny about the mirrored shape that grows sideways in opposite directions apparently out of nothing. The mirror motif is common in horror fiction. Accordingly to psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, our sense of self develops by watching ourselves in the mirror and perceiving ourselves as objects in the world about us. Moreover, there is always something barred in our minds; the subconscious is never fully accessible. Parts of ourselves seems to exceed our subjectivity, belong to something external, out of reach, but at the same time influencing us.

Res Ipsa is an compilation of works made by some kind of action shaping the filler once it is prepared inside the frame. The works thus function as a recording device and give a statement of the event taking place while the filler was still wet.

Res Ipsa is Latin for "the thing itself" and is part of the juridical term "Res ipsa loquitur" (the thing speaks for itself), used when an injury or accident in itself clearly shows who is responsible, such as an instrument left inside a body after surgery.