One of my major topics, time is. So it was certainly serendipitous to meet Olga Ast, who invited me to participate in the ArcheTime project, beginning in 2009. Most recently, I’ve been inspired by the roundtable discussion at New York University (see Archetime dot net, “The Faces of Time”). Now, I have a new concept image, grounded in my compost project of August through December 2011 and somehow becoming a universe.
Image and text by Catherine Rutgers © 2012
“My head, it says, ooooooh, forget it. My heart, it says, don’t let go.” This is how I remember it, anyway, and let us run with whatever wings our way at the moment. Theoretically, this is the end of the book. But the beauty of here is that I can do whatever I want. A rambling title? Sure. Eighteen images that may or may not relate to each other? Yes. Within this template, which I carefully chose for its simplicity and resolutely resist altering, the options are open.
There is no sink actually in the studio. But there are two finishing pages to the thesis: a sheet of shiny red paper and a plastic bag to hold multi-colored shapes. It was meant to be a game to play, the red page is the board and you could (more than theoretically) make new art. I did, in 1990, and glued them to another, larger, sheet of paper. Hence, there’s only one piece left in the bag, though many ways to keep playing the game.
00 An Open Book, 01 Ready for You, 02 Represent Choice, 03 Prescient Echo, 04 Single Piece, 05 Jeweltone Space v2, 06 Once on the Wing, 07 Revelations, 08 Major Change, 09 Even Better When You Get Closer, 10 Bluer Shade of Pale, 11 Chips Falling Where They May, 12 Chips Up, 13 Always on the Wing, 14 From the Deep (Create the Future), 15 My Yellow in This Case, 16 Metallic Front, 17 We Three
Catherine Rutgers © 2012
Footnotes are lovely. Really. Do you like what you’re reading and want to discover more? Do you enjoy getting credit for your work? Consider footnotes as your vehicle to knowledge and your best bet for sending or receiving due respect.
The original thesis has endnotes in the back, on pages titled “Footnotes.” Curiouser and curiouser.
It was so hard using a typewriter to create them. The paper is onion skin. It’s a little crinkly, a bit slick, and has aged to a mellow tawny color. There are brushed-on strokes of white-out here and there. There are attempts to fix letters with a pen. The holes were punched by hand. On the back of the last page, on ring reinforcers, there are two tiny notes: SORRY and I TRIED. Apologizing for the twice-punched page, which apparently I couldn’t bear to retype.
What the heck were those ring things called? I think they peeled off a strip and you wet them to stick. Or did they come in a package and you poured them out? Most of them have fallen off. The typewriter clattered and made a distinct grinding noise when you rolled up the page and ultimately ripped it out of the machine. Something that I haven’t heard in decades but think I would recognize instantly if it appeared again in my life.
Can you get a feeling of how physical this was?
Sometimes I think the inspiration for the entire project to digitize “Untitled” was the way the black ink turned red in part of some letters. These footnotes are survivors. Here they are in all their glory, transported to the 21st century.
Scans of a bygone era.
Catherine Rutgers © 2012
No, I’m not the goddess, just the flip side of Venus. The dipsy doodle in your onion dip. I’m the one who startled your mother when she looked in my mirror and recognized herself for the very first time. I stood on the corner, let the four winds scatter over Main Street, kept the train from escaping its tracks.
I’m the one who told the baby bird to jump out of its nest. When it still couldn’t fly. Ran to your bedside, watch you shiver with fever. I’m the one who made the green blades of grass pierce the last snow of winter. Had you howling at the sky when there was no moon.
Happy Halloween, y’all, with many more to come, and may all your personas be captivating. Love, Cat
01 Eternal Flame, 02 Three Iron Stairs, 03 These Things Will Appear,
04 Fine on Cloud Nine, 05 Sky Orchid Clouds, 06 Ailanthus Spirit,
07 Sky Victoria, 08 Sharp Intake of Breath
Original artwork and words by Catherine Rutgers © 2012
They are so strange and have been baffling me for years. I took them. But on what camera? They must be film. They have shimmery ghosts. They had ruffled edges. They frequently begged to be altered in some way or another. They were all kind of dim. Except the one that burst with red and yellow. I didn’t add that, it was just there. My own little movie. Both dull and scary. Devoid of meaning, yet somehow setting the stage.
Original photographs and text by Catherine Rutgers © 2012
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