LIVES IN:   New York City WORKS IN:   Manhattan ADDRESS:   Manhattan, NY, NY

WEBSITE:   http://www.williambrovelli.com TAGS:   neural, math, figurative, minimalism, sequence, numbered, order, economic, legal, law, life-span, collage, catalog, charting, Mark, mapping, determinism, volition, choice, kierkegaard, time-line, death-contract, cognitive, memory, biological-rythms, neurology, evolution, structure, masses, free-will, pen&ink, process-oriented, Either/or, repetition, accumulative, generative, Mark, monochromatic, ethical, grid, cybernetics, segment, grouping, restricted, restraint, format, time-based, informatics, test, expeimental, Existentital

Either/Or Project

William Brovelli is a visual artist living and working in New York City.

Either/or project

This project consists of hand drawn figures that serve as reference markers arranged onto canvas. The canvases are charts that the artist uses to document the brains resistance to repetition via the use of a restricted format. This involuntary resistance produces an evolution of the image over a substantial period of time. Brovelli's use of the figure as a reference point is similar to the way minimalists have made use of the square or grid. The figure can be viewed as a a cylinder that is divided into sections from top to bottom that allow for a wide variation of moves, using the figure as a mental template is essential in the process.
The artist uses Kierkegaard's "Either/Or" as a literary reference to underscore the belief that human beings have no free will but are positioned in an arena of implied choice where the individual is hard wired to a path that is segmented into illusionary markers of volition.
The figures on the canvas are a residue that remains as a document of commitment to the final choice. This commitment is the overarching aesthetic of the project. It is worth noting that all other urges towards creativity outside of the chosen format must be suppressed over a life time to preserve the integrity of the project.
Brovelli's work is split into two series. The first is the "Deliberation" series which consists of two sets of canvases, The "Either" canvases which depict the aesthetic view of the world and the "Or" canvases which depict the ethical view of the world. The "Deliberation" series will span three years, after which a choice will be made between the two formats.The CHOICE of format will constitute the second series. The "Confirmation" series.The Canvases within this series will span the remainder of the artist's lifetime.
*Time Line: The time line is an actual (RED) line that runs through each canvas serving as a mortality marker. The line is inserted in intervals of .5cm at the completion of each canvas. The time line serves as a visual reminder of the absence of control over ones fate. On doing the math, it is assumed that in all probability, The line will not reach the end of the canvases before the artist's death.
*Coil contract: This is a legal contract between a buyer and seller/creator of an artwork.
This contract must bind the purchaser to the piece for the life of the purchaser.
No resale, no lending, no reproducing of the image, no using the piece as collateral, no willing the piece to heirs, no public viewings and any other restrictions which would bind the buyer to the piece up until his/her death. The fate of the piece in the event of the owners death would be in the hands of current legal dictates of the said time and place.
This contract challenges the notion of art for arts sake. Art is primarily a commodity in our culture. This contracts aim is to slow down this process by holding a piece of work in economic limbo.... burying the work so to speak. The larger implications of this contract involve the idea of commitment/ownership and mortality by binding the owner to the object.
The only motivation one could expect from an individual entering into a contract like this is status, If this element could be eliminated legally, the contract would be near perfect.
(The element of choice could be implemented by allowing a potential buyer the option of either purchasing a work at full price without the contract or half price with the contract.)

 " Our own death is indeed quite unimaginable, and whenever we make the attempt to imagine it we . . . really survive as spectators. . . . At bottom nobody believes in his own death, or to put the same thing in a different way, in the unconscious every one of us is convinced of his own immortality. (Freud 1953, pp. 304-305)

DESCRIPTION OF THE CANVASES
*"Either" canvases:(Aesthetic view)
6ft.x 4ft. canvas. Hand drawn, varied size pen/ink figures arranged in random format. Aprx. 5,000 figures per canvas. All figures are hand drawn,cut out and pasted onto canvas.
*"Or" canvases:(Ethical view)
6ft.x 6ft. canvases.Hand drawn 2" pen/ink figures arranged in rows and in sequence. Aprx. 4,500 figures per canvas. All figures are hand drawn, cut out and pasted onto canvas.
(To date there are 40,000 figures set aside as material for canvases.)

 

 

 

 

Also see: Either/Or - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Determinism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Becker, Ernest. The Denial of Death. New York: Free Press, 1973.