The statement and the photographs were first published in Sun and Moon : A
Journal of Literature and Art in 1976.
Channa
Horwitz
Statement by the Artist
I have created a visual philosophy by working with
deductive logic. I had a need to control and compose time as I had controlled
and composed two dimensional drawings and paintings. To do this, I chose a
graph as the basis for the visual description of time. I gave the graph a
value: one inch became one beat or pulse in time. Using this graph, I made
compositions that depicted rhythm visually.
To compose
the visual rhythms, I chose to use eight units. I gave each of the eight units
a number, a count equal to its number, and a color. Number one had a duration
of one count and was green, number two had a duration of two counts and was
blue, etc., on to eight which had a duration of eight counts, and was colored
yellow green. I then named these eight units “energies”. With eight energies,
each having a duration equal to its number, I made compositions using the same
logic. Whatever motion appears in time on the graph is based on the same linear
logic. I chose to use a circular sequence for the basis of my logical system
for motion. Visually, I accomplished this by having my rhythm follow a count of
2-3-4-5-6-7-8-1-2... or 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, etc. I then thought of
these choices or limitations as rules for a game. By limiting my choices to the
least number, and questioning each game, I created a separate world of visual
rhythm that grew in strength. The more I questioned, the further I was brought
in my search for meaning, artistic truth, and for a meaning of freedom.
As I see
the world, it appears
to have grown and evolved through a series of chances. My life and how it
evolves appears to be determined by chance; but in reality, it is a structure
directed and determined by my desires, both conscious and
unconscious. The theory behind my work is that if structure plays
out long enough, it will appear to be chance. It won’t be chance, it will only appear to be
chance. My life flows as all things in the universe flow, in a
cyclical or circular manner. It
is as in Lobachevskian geometry, the continuum meets itself in space. The beginning and
ending are only one step away from each other. There is no
beginning and ending...
in the universe. To live for all time, is to live now. My life's duration is all time. I create and control my life out of my desires.
As controller-creator of my life work, I create compositions that are based on the cycle-circle of a never ending
count. Earlier works showed
this count or time horizontally, one inch for each beat. To achieve my
compositions, I used
motion in the
form of eight energies (1/8 inch squares) which moved in a circularly
sequential, numbered, logical manner. I created visual compositions by
playing different number games. After creating a large body of compositions
using one inch of time and eight squares depicting motion, I became curious about the possibilities of
expanding the one inch of time in
a vertical direction, and thereby creating space for the energies to grow. This brought
about the expanded energy from
eight 1/8 inch squares to eight one inch squares. Each energy grew by 1/8 inch until it
became one inch. I
then decided
to allow the energies to expand even farther in space. To do this I expanded the
composition to four levels in space. I then had four levels in
space vertically and eight energies
in time horizontally with which I could compose.
After
completing this body of work (some pieces were up to sixteen feet), I questioned
it. Having a desire to become more complex in my next compositions, I realized
that the complexity of the work required miniaturization. I proceeded to reduce the work down to its essence, and to
add four more levels. Each energy appeared one per inch horizontally
and each level
of space appeared one per inch vertically.
After
completing the first drawing in the series, I decided that the
completed drawing was the front slice of a volume and that I would slice into
this volume eight times front
to back, eight times top to bottom, and eight times left to
middle. Each drawing would be one step away from the previous drawing; the last
drawing one step from the first.
In doing
the next series of drawings called Variations and Inversions on a Rhythm, I
started with numbers logically arrived at through eight previously completed
drawings. In the first drawing of the set I carried those previously determined
numbers forward onto one drawing. On each subsequent drawing I varied all
segments of the first drawing by one count. By varying the work in this way, I
arrived at the first set of 64 drawings. The set exists because of the possibilities of variations with
the numbers.
The structure of the rhythm within
the drawings is the result of a split. The split being that of a primary and
secondary motion.
The primary rhythm is arrived at
through the use of the logical number sequence.
The secondary rhythm is arrived at
through the use of an inversion, where a different line on each successive
drawing is inverted one space.
In the first series of drawings this
inversion shifts one space back on a different line on each successive drawing,
resulting in 64 drawings.
In
the second series of drawings the inversion of one space back is retained on
each line on each drawing and one additional inversion is added in each
successive drawing, resulting in 64 drawings.
In
the third series of drawings the inversion manifests itself in a reversed direction
of one space on each successive line of each successive drawing resulting in
112 drawings.
The
investigation of my original concept has brought me into unknown territory.
With each question I search for a visual answer. In this way I have strengthened my original concept and
have travelled further into the unknown.
Channa Horwitz
Hidden Hills, California
January, 1976
reated a separate world of visual
rhythm that grew in strength. The more I questioned, the further I was brought
in my search for meaning, artistic truth, and for a meaning of freedom.
I
experience freedom through the limitations and structure I place on my work. It
would appear that limitation and structure are the opposite of freedom. I have
found them to be synonymous with freedom, and the basis of freedom.
As I see
the world, it appears
to have grown and evolved through a series of chances. My life and how it
evolves appears to be determined by chance; but in reality, it is a structure
directed and determined by my desires, both conscious and
unconscious. The theory behind my work is that if structure plays
out long enough, it will appear to be chance. It won’t be chance, it will only appear to be
chance. My life flows as all things in the universe flow, in a
cyclical or circular manner. It
is as in Lobachevskian geometry, the continuum meets itself in space. The beginning and
ending are only one step away from each other. There is no
beginning and ending...
in the universe. To live for all time, is to live now. My life's duration is all time. I create and control my life out of my desires.
As controller-creator of my life work, I create compositions that are based on the cycle-circle of a never ending
count. Earlier works showed
this count or time horizontally, one inch for each beat. To achieve my
compositions, I used
motion in the
form of eight energies (1/8 inch squares) which moved in a circularly
sequential, numbered, logical manner. I created visual compositions by
playing different number games. After creating a large body of compositions
using one inch of time and eight squares depicting motion, I became curious about the possibilities of
expanding the one inch of time in
a vertical direction, and thereby creating space for the energies to grow. This brought
about the expanded energy from
eight 1/8 inch squares to eight one inch squares. Each energy grew by 1/8 inch until it
became one inch. I
then decided
to allow the energies to expand even farther in space. To do this I expanded the
composition to four levels in space. I then had four levels in
space vertically and eight energies
in time horizontally with which I could compose.
After
completing this body of work (some pieces were up to sixteen feet), I questioned
it. Having a desire to become more complex in my next compositions, I realized
that the complexity of the work required miniaturization. I proceeded to reduce the work down to its essence, and to
add four more levels. Each energy appeared one per inch horizontally
and each level
of space appeared one per inch vertically.
After
completing the first drawing in the series, I decided that the
completed drawing was the front slice of a volume and that I would slice into
this volume eight times front
to back, eight times top to bottom, and eight times left to
middle. Each drawing would be one step away from the previous drawing; the last
drawing one step from the first.
In doing
the next series of drawings called Variations and Inversions on a Rhythm, I
started with numbers logically arrived at through eight previously completed
drawings. In the first drawing of the set I carried those previously determined
numbers forward onto one drawing. On each subsequent drawing I varied all
segments of the first drawing by one count. By varying the work in this way, I
arrived at the first set of 64 drawings. The set exists because of the possibilities of variations with
the numbers.
The structure of the rhythm within
the drawings is the result of a split. The split being that of a primary and
secondary motion.
The primary rhythm is arrived at
through the use of the logical number sequence.
The secondary rhythm is arrived at
through the use of an inversion, where a different line on each successive
drawing is inverted one space.
In the first series of drawings this
inversion shifts one space back on a different line on each successive drawing,
resulting in 64 drawings.
In
the second series of drawings the inversion of one space back is retained on
each line on each drawing and one additional inversion is added in each
successive drawing, resulting in 64 drawings.
In
the third series of drawings the inversion manifests itself in a reversed direction
of one space on each successive line of each successive drawing resulting in
112 drawings.
The
investigation of my original concept has brought me into unknown territory.
With each question I search for a visual answer. In this way I have strengthened my original concept and
have travelled further into the unknown.
Channa Horwitz
Hidden Hills, California
January, 1976
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