10 Diary Entries [2010-12]

Simon Granell

This work is an exploration into a personal use of spoken language though a predefined process intended to mirror that of my painting practice. A similar process of self-imposed limitation is applied with the aim of suggesting both an autobiographical residue of my own thinking, and open up a potential dialogue for the reader. A series of ten quotations taken from a painting diary are paired with words and punctuation from a series of books that I own. This process has been repeated until all ten quotations have been paired, one word and punctuation mark at a time, creating lists of footnotes, the suggestion being that language has been acquired in this manner. The relationship between word and associated footnote becomes the source of play, frustration or familiarity. The intention is to demonstrate that this deterministic process far from being reductive in its effect, has resulted in the words being read either as part of a whole or reintegrated and reoriented into something new through a process of appropriation rather that engenderment. The hope is that this procedural limitation can act as a trigger for the reader to resequence and reconfigure the references through association and connection that might say something about them in terms of age, taste and perhaps even prejudice. While painting is the subject of the quotations, the implication is that this is constructed by material from another source. This has a distancing effect, which I hope has drawn some parallels with the process of making a painting itself. The footnotes have become detached for the quotations and are free to be re-cited, and act less to affirm or underline and more of leave a trace.

¹ Maitland, S., 2009. A book of silence. London: Granta Books, p.5

² Calvino, I., 1982. If on a winter’s night a traveller. London: Vintage Book, p.122

³ Cervantes, M de., Don Quixote. Translated from Spanish by Grossman, E,. 2005. London: Vintage, p.73

⁴ Jacobs, M., 1992. Blue Guide - Barcelona. London: A & C Black Publishers, p.70

⁵ Spark, M., 1975. The Girl of Slender Means. London: Penguin Books, p.95

⁶ Spark, M., 2001. Loitering with Intent. New York: New Directions Publishing, p.14

⁷ Barnes, J., 2005. The Lemon Table. London: Picador, p.20

⁸ Westcott, J., 2010. When Marina Abramovic Dies. Massachussetts: MIT Press, p.163

⁹ Tanahashi, K., 2004. A Flock of Fools: Ancient Buddhist Tales. New York: Grove Press, p.90

¹⁰Jung, C. G., 1987. Synchronicity. London: Ark Paperbacks, p.103

¹¹ Cowie, P., 2006. Revolution!: The Explosion of World Cinema in the 60s. London: Faber & Faber, p.26

¹² Murakami, H., 2003. Dance Dance Dance. London: Vintage, p.173

¹³ Claxton, G., 2008. What’s the Point of School?: Rediscovering the Heart of Education. Oxford: Oneworld Publications, p.64

¹⁴ Murakami, H., 1999. The wind-up bird chronicle. London: The Harvill Press, p.20

¹⁵ Murakami, H., 2003. South of the border, west of the sun. London: Vintage, p.77

¹⁶ Kakuzo, O., 1992. The book of tea. Vermont: Tuttle, p.95

¹⁷ Calvino, I., 1985. Marcovaldo. London: Picador, p.61

¹⁸ Calvino, I., 1992. Under the jaguar sun. London: Jonathan Cape, p.69

¹⁹ Waite, A. E., 2005. The pictorial key to the Tarot. New York: Dover Publications, p.224

²⁰ Murakami, H., 2003. Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. London: Vintage, p.4

²¹ Calvino, I., 1992. Six memos for the next millenium. London: Jonathan Cape, p.19

²² Calvino, I., 1984. Adam, one afternoon. London: Picador, p.105

²³ O’Dell, L., 2010. The charismatic chamelion. Brighton & Eastbourne: Sussex Academic Press, p.35

²⁴Schor, M., 1997. Wet: On Painting, Feminism and Art Culture. Durham: Duke University Press, p.54

²⁵ Kant, I., 1998. Kant: Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals. Translated by Gregor, M., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p.8

²⁶Parsons, T., 2009. Thinking: Objects - Contemporary Approaches to Product Design. Switzerland: AVA Publishing, p.195

²⁷ Jarry, A., 2003. Ubu Roi. New York: Dover Publications Inc, p.13

²⁸ Charles, V., 2008. Rembrandt: Painter, Engraver and Etcher. New York: Parkstone Press International, p.141

²⁹ Persig, R., 1999. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. London: Vintage, p.22

“The¹ aim² is³ to⁴ take⁵ a⁶ brush⁷ mark⁸ through⁹ a¹⁰ process¹¹ and¹² create¹³ something¹⁴ that¹⁵ reaches¹⁶ beyond¹⁷ merely¹⁸ presenting¹⁹ its²⁰ own²¹ construction²².²³ Create²⁴ something²⁵ intense²⁶ and²⁷ bodily²⁸.²⁹ ”

18 04 2012

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