Tony Oursler

SKETCHES AT TWILIGHT

By Tony Oursler
Published in
Jan. 1, 1996

PAINTING IS A SENSUAL ART
- SALVITOR DALI

...THE ULTIMATE CONFLICT BETWEEN SIGHT AND SOUND, BETWEEN WRITTEN AND ORAL KINDS OF PERCEPTIONS AND ORGANIZATION IS UPON US.
-MCLUHAN

SUMMER 1976

I ATTEND CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE FOR THE ARTS WITH THE INTENT OF LEARNING TO PAINT LIKE MICHELANGELO BEFORE I COULD PAINT ABSTRACTLY, PERHAPS IN THE MANOR OF KANDINSKY. THERE I WAS INTRODUCED TO THE PRACTICES OF CONCEPTUAL ART AND THE REVOLUTIONARY SONY VIDEO PORTA-PAC. THE ONLY PORTABLE VIDEO RECORDING SYSTEM WAS MORE THAN TEN YEARS OLD AT THAT TIME AND WAS NOT WIDELY AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC. I WAS IMMEDIATELY ATTRACTED TO THE DEVICE AND SET ABOUT MAKING ART WITH IT. REAL TIME IMAGE CREATION WAS A MATCH FOR MY HYPERACTIVE ATTENTION AND PACE. THE TUBE CAMERAS OF THE DAY WERE EXTREMELY LOW RESOLUTION, WHICH CREATED A MAGICAL BLACK AND WHITE, BUT MOSTLY GRAY IMAGE ON THE TV MONITOR. THERE ONE WATCHED A FUZZY, SPOTTY, FUSION OF 2 AND 3 DIMENSIONAL SPACE. MY INTEREST IN THAT SPACE AND HOW IT RELATES TO PHYSICAL SPACE HAS CONTINUED TO THIS DAY.

IMAGINE THE CAMERA VIEWFINDER SCISSOR-LIKE, EXCISING WHAT THE MINDS EYE REJECTS AND RETAINING WHAT IT SELECTS.
-JOHN BADESSARI
SUMMER 1996

STORAGE SPACES ARE AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL. THE OBJECTS THEY HOLD BECOME A PERSONAL ARCHEOLOGICAL SITE. A MEMORY BANK MADE PHYSICAL. THIS IS WHY THEY ARE SO HORRIFYING, THEY ARE A CONSTANT REMINDER OF THE PAST. STANDING IN YOUR STORAGE SPACE PUTS YOU IN DIRECT CONFLICT WITH THE NATURAL LAWS WHICH GOVERN THE PASSAGE OF TIME. CLEANING OUT THIS SPACE IS, BY DEFAULT, A FORM OF EDITING OUR PERSONAL HISTORY. THE PROCESS BECOMES INTROSPECTIVE, TO A SICKENING DEGREE, AS EACH INDIVIDUAL OBJECT, GREAT OR SMALL DEMANDS ATTENTION AND JUDGMENT AS TO ITS CURRENT VALUE. SOMETIMES AN OLD BOOK FALLS OPEN TO THE FOLLOWING PASSAGE: ALL THAT IS SOLID MELTS INTO AIR, ALL THAT IS HOLY IS PROFANED, AND MEN AT LAST ARE FORCED TO FACE WITH SOBER SENSES THE REAL CONDITIONS OF THEIR LIVES AND THEIR RELATIONS WITH THEIR FELLOW MEN. 
-KARL MARX

2
THE POSSIBILITY OF ENTERING A VIDEO SPACE WAS RADICAL AND ULTIMATELY DESIRABLE FOR ME, A MEMBER OF THE FIRST GENERATION OF TELEVISION YOUTH. MY EXPERIMENTS IN PAINTING ENDED UP IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA AND I OFTEN PAINTED WHILE LOOKING THROUGH THE CAMERA. THROUGH THE LENS CONSTRUCTED, OR COLLAGE IMAGES WERE FREE TO BECOME ALMOST ANYTHING.THROUGH THE LENS MY PICTURES COULD BE ELECTRIFIED WITH ALL THE ATTRIBUTES OF LIFE; IF THEY NEEDED A HAND OR MOUTH I WOULD JUST CUT A HOLE AND STICK IT THE BODY PART THROUGH. IF SCENES NEEDED SOUNDS OR WORDS THEY COULD BE SPOKEN OR WRITTEN INTO THE TAPE; MUSIC COULD BE MADE TO AD COLOR. I WAS STRUCK BY THE ABILITY OF THE CAMERA TO ALTER THE LAWS OF PHYSICS; TO TRANSFORM MATTER, SPACE AND TIME, INANIMATE TO ANIMATE: WORLDS UNTO THEMSELVES.

THE PAINTER IS THE EYES OF THE WORLD
-OTTO DIX

FAILED PAINTER, LAPSED PAINTER, CLOSET PAINTER, PAINTING SUCKS, PAINTING FAILED ME. (A DRAMA FOR 2 PERFORMERS)

[SET IN A LARGE WHITE SPACE WITH HUMMING FLUORESCENT LIGHTS ABOVE]

1: I SHOULD EXPLAIN THAT I STARTED STUDYING PAINTING AS A CHILD AND HAVE ALWAYS EQUATED IT WITH INFANTILISM.

2: WHAT ABOUT WHEN YOU WERE PAINTING HOUSES FOR A LIVING, WAS THAT ART?

1: YEAH, I THOUGHT THAT THE SURFACE OF THE WALLS WAS MOST BEAUTIFUL.

2: YOU THOUGHT THAT BEING OBSESSED WITH SURFACES WAS A SYMPTOM OF SOME FORM MENTAL ILLNESS.

1: AND IN 1969 WHEN I WOKE TO DISCOVER MY LITTLE BROTHER HAD SMEARED THE WALL NEAR HIS CRIB WITH HIS OWN EXCREMENT. THE BROWN MASS SEEMED TO SAY IT ALL.

2- LOOK WHAT I MADE!

1-YOU GET BROWN BY MIXING ALL THE COLORS TOGETHER.

2-SO, SOME THINGS ARE BETTER DONE BY HAND.

1-TRUE.

3
DUST, MINUTE PARTICLES DERIVED FROM ALL FORM OF MATTER COVERS THE GROUND, COVERS THE BOXES AND ARE SUSPENDED IN THE ATMOSPHERE. DUST IS INHALED. ARE THE MEMORIES IT EVOKES WORTH PRESERVING? LET THE DUST SETTLE BEFORE YOU BRING UP THE SUBJECT AGAIN.

COLOR TV IS THE MOST RESOUNDING INDUSTRIAL FLOP OF 1956.
-TIME MAGAZINE

VIDEO DISPLACED, FILM WHICH DISPLACED PHOTOGRAPHY WHICH DISPLACED PAINTING AS A PURVEYOR OF THE IMAGE IN OUR CULTURE. SINCE THERE IS VERY LITTLE HISTORY BEHIND VIDEO ART WORKING IN THE MEDIUM HAS FRESHNESS, A FREEDOM. IT FORCED ME TO FORGET THE FORMAL CONSTRAINTS AND OVERWHELMING HISTORY OF STATIC IMAGE MAKING. INSTEAD I COULD PLAYFULLY TAKE FROM THAT HISTORY, AND EMPLOY VARIOUS STYLES FOR THEIR SEMIOTIC, REFERENTIAL VALUES. VIDEO CONTAINS THE HISTORY OF IMAGE MAKING. EVERYTHING FORM POP TELEVISION,16TH CENTURY STAGE DESIGN, GEORGES MELIES, GERMAN EXPRESSIONIST FILM, CONCEPTUAL ART WERE MIXED INTO MY TAPES AND INSTALLATION.

REMEMBER, ANYTHING THAT CAN BE DONE CHEMICALLY CAN BE DONE IN OTHER WAYS.
-WILLIAM BURROUGHS

EACH OBJECT I TOUCH HAS A TEXT, LIKE IT OR NOT, I HEAR IT, SEE IT. EACH TOUCH THROWS ME HOPELESSLY OUT OF MY TIME, OUT OF MY MIND. IN THIS FRACTURED PSYCHOLOGICAL STATE I'M AMAZED THAT THIS FRAGILE SCRIBBLING ON PAPER SURVIVED, CAME TO REST AT ONE SPOT. THE HAND MOVES FROM ONE POINT TO THE NEXT. A LINE. I MOVED ON THE AVERAGE OF ONCE A YEAR FROM 1975 TO 1989. NOW, I SHUTTLED THIS CHAOTIC MASS TO YET AN OTHER STORAGE UNIT, THIS TIME IN BROOKLYN, NEW YORK. I HATE BROOKLYN. BUT IT'S A GOOD PLACE TO PUT YOUR OLD THINGS. ORDER CAN BE FOUND THERE. IN BROOKLYN, THE MATERIALS IN THE STORAGE SPACE SEEM MORE STREAMLINED, LIKE THEY MIGHT TURN INTO SOMETHING GREATER THAN THEIR SUM. ALMOST ANYTHING OF QUESTIONABLE VALUE HAS BEEN BRUTALLY EXCISED. THE ESSENTIAL BOXES, TUBES AND PANELS REMAIN. JUMBLED BLOCKS OF TIME. NOW THE STORAGE ROOM IS MY MODEL OF TIME.

I CONTINUE TO DRAW CONSTANTLY AS A WAY OF WORKING OUT IDEAS. MY PRODUCTIONS WERE EXECUTED WITH THE MEAGER RESOURCES AVAILABLE WITHIN A STUDIO CONTEXT: THE ARTISTS BODY, PAPER, PAINTS, CLAY, WOOD, THE UBIQUITOUS CARDBOARD BOX, AND VARIOUS FOUND OBJECTS FROM THE LOCAL THRIFT STORE. THE MOST DIRECT ROOT TO OR EXPRESSION OF AN IDEA BECAME PARAMOUNT. OVER THE YEARS I GENERATED A LARGE NUMBER OF CHARACTERS, BACKDROPS AND PROPS FOR MY VIDEO WORLDS. I HAD TRICKED MYSELF INTO MAKING THINGS BY HAND, A PROCESS WHICH I LOVE, IN THE SERVICE OF A LARGER CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK.

THE HUMAN MIND IS A MALLEABLE TOOL
-ALLEN DULLES, DIRECTOR CIA

VIDEO IS A META-MEDIUM. SOMETHING THAT COULD APPROACH THE POETRY OF THOUGHT. THOUGHT IS THE WORD THAT COMES TO MIND WHEN I LOOK AT THE EARLY DRAWING IN THIS BOOK. THEY USUALLY COMBINE IMAGES AND TEXT, SOMETIMES NOTES RELATING TO SOUND OR MOTION. THEY WERE MY WAY OF REMEMBERING A THOUGHT, ASSOCIATING THOUGHTS, LAYERING THOUGHTS. THE PAGE IS OR IS NOT CONSIDERED AS A FRAME OR THE END OF THE IDEA, THEY CAN BE CROSS REFERENCE. MANY OF THESE WORKS ARE SORT OF NOTE BOOK PAGES, AND CONTAIN MORE THAN ONE SET OF NOTATIONS. OFTEN THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN IDEAS AND IMAGES WERE ESTABLISHED BY THEME OR TOPIC. THIS PROCESS OF GROUPING IDEAS OBSERVATIONS AND IMAGES GAVE WAY TO MY INTEREST IN POP SYSTEMS, AND LOOSE INDIVIDUAL AND PUBLIC ANALYSIS. THE WORKS PRESENTED HERE TRACE THE MAJOR THEMES.

MOST OF THIS STUFF WILL BE REPACKED WHILE SOME OF IT WILL BE DISCARDED IN THE LARGE TRASH DUMPSTER, AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT WILL BECOME OF IT AFTER THAT, WITH ONE EXCEPTION: AN OLD FLAT OF FLUORESCENT CABBAGE ROSES, FROM A NEVER-REALIZED 1987 VIDEOTAPE. BY CHANCE I WILL RECOVER THIS WEEKS LATER FROM A NEIGHBOR WHO HAD SALVAGED IT FROM THE TRASH AND WAS USING IT TO BLOCK HER KIDS FROM GETTING INTO THE POISON IVY IN HER BACK YARD. I WILL TAKE THIS AS A SIGN THAT I SHOULD KEEP IT ANYWAY AND SHE WILL HAPPILY LET ME HAVE IT BACK.

IN THIS PUBLICATION, I HAVE FOCUSED ON WORKS THAT STAND ALONE AS IMAGES. HERE I HAVE OMITTED SKETCHES FOR INSTALLATIONS AND STORYBOARDS FOR TAPES WHICH ARE DIAGRAMMATIC, AND WORKMAN-LIKE WHICH SEEM TO CONFUSE THE STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK. INSTEAD I CHOSE TO INCLUDE PRIMARY HAND MADE IMAGES, PROPS, SETS, INSTALLATIONS AND VIDEOTAPES WHICH I CONSIDER TO BE DRAWINGS.