Chris Horner LG reports.
Chance –
“The Likelihood, probability, or opportunity to do something. To risk or gamble. Where an unpredictable element can cause things to happen one way or another, it can cause a risk contributing to something happening without meaning to do so.” (Podbielski, 2000:89). Chance will always be around us, I do not think it is possible to live life without experiencing chance in some kind of form. However, some people like to distance themselves from chance by integrating clear methods into their day-to-day life. This can be identified by planning out your whole life through routine and a repetitive motion, to stay clear of a moment, or a happening occurring which could provoke something unexpected. What has been suggested could be like setting up your own operative system? N, Katherine Hayles observes this thought of conjoining both ‘chance’ and ‘operation’, “Since chance is ‘in excess of our expectations,’ and operation derives from ‘operari’ and ‘opus,’ it would seem to be at odds. Yet, if we do not have a system (procedure, operation, process) we are left to flounder in the arbitrary.” (Hayles, 2012:5).
Robert Morris was a key figure for this kind of work, as he characterised process art as ‘chance, contingency and indeterminacy.’ He allowed materials to succumb to the force of materialisation, where hidden attributes and abilities arrive from beneath the surface. (Iversen, 2010:17). This is exactly what my artworks are employing, deconstructing the identification of the past and bringing forth a new illustration. The attention is then on the actual presence and visibility of the form, which transforms further to amplifying this change in appearance. This then visually displays an obsessive ritualised active process of painting and sculpting combined with expressive instructions and rules.
A gap has been set up in my work in the hope that this keeps the process in a state of enquiry, which is ‘off balance’. This unsteady activity creates a motive of non-interference providing outcomes through a non-conscious approach. Why does this mode of functioning become so enthralling and exhilarating? In the words of Margaret Iversen “It is the lack of control which creates the gap between intention and outcome, which seems crucial to the meaning of chance in art. The question then becomes: why should artists deliberately set up such a gap in their practice? And why should the viewer find it so engaging? (Iversen, 2010:12). Setting up a gap within a process activates a chance procedure, enabling an operation to become foreign and unexpected. A system which is designed in this format is firstly conducted by the artist, where selections are made through a direct notion. In my practice it can be detected by me firstly choosing a surface and materials to work with. The operation then becomes disconnected as a step is taken back. I allow each material the opportunity collide and convert, which creates an unknown process. “Outcomes of a chance operation display a modification within seen results. An outcome may only comprise part of the original process, as a reintroduction of the artist is slightly identified. Consequently, it shows a part in, part out aesthetic decision from the impulsive nature of the artist.” (Andrews, 2012:2). A change in posture inverts a physical presence to a detached existence. This ignites a game of waiting and seeing, before enclosing an attachment to the reformed surface. Composing in this fashion gives the viewer the chance to participate in new ways of seeing, comprehending, and working out new openings to new enquiries.
“Chance has always been related to a rebellious attitude against conventions and standards”. (Jensen, 2011:1). The process involved in the making of my artworks discovers new ways of seeing, through an unplanned approach, by infusing material surfaces, non-art elements and unknown processes together. The change to the original property of a surface can shift in its function and status, by dismantling the stature of the surface. This can be recognised most notably in my ‘Building Bag’ series where an action is transferred from the subconscious mind. This active gesture converts and transforms its context into another background, by mixing and colliding associated material elements (Art Materials), with unfamiliar elements (Found Materials / Building Supplies), transformations start to happen, but will it work? What will happen? And will it last? Jonas Jensen describes in his reading that elements are “Things which are in constant flux which can unbound, and where things perform allowing images to emerge. All the conscious mental guidance is eliminated from the creator.”(Jensen, 2011:1). It is this working method which utilises new findings and new perceptions in my work. This technique constructs random passages, which lead to new ways of recording data through sculpting and painting. A constant manipulation of the work changes my viewpoint, as this active motion consistently develops and alters an inclusion and release from the process.
Chris Horner LG, 2025
Jensen, H. F. ib Jonas. (2011). Aesthetics of chance, A study of chance operations in art since Dada with and emphasis on Duchamp, Cage, Brecht, Spoerri and Morris, P1 – 2. Aesthetics of Chance. http://www.pissinginthewind.no/Bilder/TXT/Aestetics%20of%20chance.pdf
Iversen, Margaret. (2010). Introduction//The Aesthetics of Chance, P12. Chance , Documents of Contemporary Art. Edited by Margaret Iversen. Published by Gallery Ventures Limited.
Andrews, Ian. (2012). The Rigour of Chance Operations, P2. Chance, Non – intention and Process. http://www.ian-andrews.org/texts/Chance_Non-intention_Process.pd
