#416 Long Stick Drawing

This work was made using a 5,2-meter long stick. This distance, from the work and out, should be marked on the floor when the work is exhibited.

The method is inspired by photos of Henri Matisse, who sometimes used long sticks to draw with, both to be able to draw from the bed and to have oversight over large drawings while drawing. I, on the other hand, was, instead of facilitating the drawing process, trying to make it physically harder to draw. One of the reasons why we sometimes admire children's drawings is that there is a gap between intention and ability, which creates tension in the drawing, and this method tries to set up the same conditions.

At the same time, the works deal with the crude and harsh nature of language. Signs and symbols always contain categories of meaning rather than the often subjective and specific statements we´re trying to express. It's like shooting mosquitos with cannons. No matter how hard we try to transmit a message to the receiver, it always comes out distorted on the other end. And the growing contemporary use of emojis, symbols and predefined responses instead of letters and individually formulated sentences might be easy to use, but perhaps doesn't increase understanding in communication.

The barred S symbolises money, an entity we often need to be part of our interactions with others around us. The concept can be more complex than we think if we understand it as freedom. Without money, our freedom to operate is limited. Freedom also designates a subject, the ability to make independent choices, to have free will. Psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan uses the symbol to describe the split in the subject by language. So, the distance between what we mean and what we say when we use this symbol can be greater than we think. On the other hand, we might better stay silent about things we cannot understand, and using a symbol can be a way of speaking without saying anything. And sometimes that's exactly what we want.

Res Ipsa is a compilation of works made by an act 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.