From De Villo Sloan - Lend Me Your Imagination for a Moment Please.

[cheryl penn]

I keep asking DVS for some sort of explanation about his work. He keeps avoiding  this .  I think this means I have to just get on with it?  The most important thing I can see? Painting and writing in De Villo’s work is a medium of unconscious self-awareness.

The continued use of Rorschach Blots also points to this.  These blots are ambiguous of course – but do you see a person in here? I certainly do. 

Painting IS a self-conscious act – it continually looks over its shoulder to see who and what has gone before whilst at the same time looking within and around for ideas and yes, dare I say it, a sense of affirmation.

 

And Asemics? Well, that’s a writing  system that occurs consciously   - unconsciously .  To combine these two mediums in one series is a very interesting juxtaposition -   the imagination begins to mediate between form and medium.   For me, the imagination sorts and then perceives.  Here is an Asemic Wanderer. I have used this terminology in correspondence before  - entities that are searching for a place in a post-literate society.

 And here?

Here there is the definite creation of form through text.  Illegible text for sure, but structure for certain.

I like the fact that De Villo’s work aesthetically echos the concept of shadow writing. The differing pressures of his letters create a palimpsest effect where some text is in the fore, but a large amount – the rear guardians, those who were there first, fade to make way for the new.  

Thanks DVS – I wait A LONG TIME to get your work, but its always worth it!  

[De Villo Sloan]

Gee, I shouldn't be messing with psychological tests - could trigger primal memories or something, Yip, the Rorschach does that - thanks Skybridge

[Lesley Magwood Fraser]

Definitely a Georgia O'Keefe Orchid painting and all its connotations....

[De Villo Sloan]

You know my handicap in all this is that I'm not slightly a visual artist.

[cheryl penn]

I was trying to find the term for a phenomenon that happens in painting when another image comes to light once the work is done - do you know what I'm referring to? And its usually an ARB image - I know I got a duckling in the sky in one of my war series...

[De Villo Sloan]

With the Rorschach - I think the blots, somewhat random really, work more as a mirror of the viewer's mind. For some reason the inkblots always seem to represent something, curious medium.

[De Villo Sloan]

If W is still open - that would work.

[cheryl penn]

I'm thinking W - waxing and waning for some reason?

[De Villo Sloan]

I want to go ahead with project - I'll think of something. These were sort of experiments in preparation for Asemics 16.

[cheryl penn]

You're even leaving that part to my imagination?? :-))) NO WONDER you were avoiding my questions!

[De Villo Sloan]

Thanks Cheryl. Your photography can make anything look passable. The Rorschach is a classic psychological test that, as I understand it, is reliant on the interpretation of the viewer. I've always thought it was interesting. And it's just as interesting to explore inkblots. I know these pieces are supposed to represent a letter of the alphabet and a verb. That's the part where I'm still stumped, I'm afraid.