Description of Process
Tim Hawkinson



Tim Hawkinson
Ranting Mop Head, 1995.
Mop, lectern, pump, scrounged bits & pieces, hose, synthetic voice
67 x 24 x 24 inches
Courtesy: Ace Gallery

RECORD DRAWINGS were made on slowly revolving discs, simultaneously using my right (melody) and left (rhythm) hands to produce a two-track inward spiraling, record of my response to music being played on a nearby turntable.

SILVER DISCS originated as an investigation of the reflected cones of light and shadow painted into the prepared surface of the record drawings, and became giant CDS. They have the appearance of machined parts, but are created with the lamest materials — aluminum foil, gum wrappers, etc. Like the x-rays, they are simple direct short cuts into complex technology.

THE SOUND OF WALLPAPER I printed the paper using the wallpaper calender (printing cylinder) and then combined this printer with a microtonal scale of notes.

BLIND SPOTS The areas of my body which I could not directly see were defined by tracing the inner periphery of my visual field. The areas within these boundaries were assembled into a map of my body's blind spots.

BODY RUBBINGS Pastel was rubbed over pieces of fabric which were held in place against my body. The pastel was deposited over bony protuberances — leaving an x-ray of my skeleton.

BALLERINAS I converted a folding mug rack into a copying machine by attaching a pen to each mug post, then anchoring this machine in the center of the paper. I was able to draw one ballerina as a perfectly choreographed troupe of a dozen followed in step.

BATH GENERATED CONTOUR LACE I laid in a bathtub which was filling slowly with black paint, photographing every few minutes as the paint crept up and over, diminishing islands of skin. superimposing these images, I developed a contour pattern which I then rendered in the meandering lace drawing.

BATH GENERATED CONTOUR HOLOGRAM I laid in a bathtub which was filling slowly with black paint, photographing every few minutes as the paint crept up and over, diminishing islands of skin. superimposing these images, I developed a contour pattern which I then rendered in the scored iridescent film.

SPIN SINK (ONE REVOLUTION IN 83 YEARS) is a series of gears driven by a slot motor which reduces the initial spin of 1400 RPM down to one revolution in every 83 years. Silver arrows on the cog wheels indicate the gear's position. All the arrows were directed towards the motor when the piece was plugged in.

HUMONGOLOUS is a map charting all the surfaces of my skin which I could see directly. Starting with my left hand, I grided off my palm and painted it square by square onto the larger grid drawn on the paper. In this way I wound around my hand, up my arm and across the rest of my epidermis, detailing and expanding the areas which were more accessible.

HEAD I painted latex rubber over all the surfaces of our bathroom, peeled this skin away and inflated it.

SLOUGH SHADOW My bath water, horded and distilled, was poured into the sealed canvas which was pressed into a dishlike form in the shape of my shadow. After the liquid evaporated, the canvas was stretched leaving this discarded and reconstructed skin.

HOSPITAL WITH ANEURISMS an ordered band of green stripes flows through the floor plan of a hospital from one end to the other. Each stripe balloons out to fill a different room with its particular color, displacing the uninterrupted sequence of stripes on either side of the activated stripe.

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