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One Hundred Permutations by Matthew Ballou 230 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #03-1326; ISBN 1-4120-0957-X; US$25.50, C$29.89, EUR21.00, £15.00 Most art books are merely the presentation of one artist's expression. This book offers the chance for readers to participate in the artistic creativity of the author's work.
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About the Book
One Hundred Permutations is a book about potentiality in art. The author first presents several essays which both enumerate and suggest solutions to some problems facing art practice today. After using these writings to initiate a working premise, he then exhibits the book's namesake works: a series of one hundred abstractions all developed from the same source image. What comes next is unique within the arena of books on art. He suggests that any and all interested readers- who he assumes to be artists or art lovers- collaborate with him to complete new "permutations" based on those seen in the book. It is an epic project that lets practically anyone into the artistic process.
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About the Author
Matthew Ballou was born in rural upstate New York. He began his study of art at the Munson Williams Procor Arts Institute (an extension campus of Pratt Institute) in Utica, NY before transferring to The School of the Art Institute of Chicago to complete his bachelor's degree. An emerging artist in the midwest, Ballou has actively shown his work in a variety of venues in the Chicago area. In the fall of 2003 he will begin MFA studies at Indiana University. Matthew and his wife Alison live in Evanston, Illinois.
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Sample Excerpts or Table of Contents
2 Proposed Literacies
On the Importance of Contextual Vernacular in Bodies of Artworks The art world is stylistically differentiated yet almost entirely psychologically aligned. That is, there are as many
expressions as there are artists, yet there can be no doubt of the existence of certain specific paradigms operating
within the vast majority of artists. These leanings subsist within the art world as a whole, as well as within its
institutions. This formal differentiation existing alongside ideological unification has, over the last century, effected
drastic changes in how artworks are conceived, created, and understood.
Essentially what we have then is an art world of like-minded people creating works of disassociation. One needs
only to compare the art and artists of the turn of the last century with those of the most recent turn to note that there
exists little structure into which artists may insert their works today. What is the answer? Of paramount importance
for artists in this age of few objective measures is the need to create an interconnected body of work that delivers a
contextual message, one that is pre-understandable by viewers. Artists need to develop a vernacular within their
images that informs viewers of the whole body of work, as well as the individual pieces. In this way artists may
explain themselves -and justify their work -without falling into preexisting stylistic modes.
Modernism caused an initial disassociation among artists, because it was based on subjective responses to relative
philosophical ideas. Responses to psychological stimuli are necessarily different for all individuals and have spawned
the appropriation, alteration, and individualist orientation to images that dominated the art of the 20th century. The
more objective technical procedures of earlier art periods allowed for systemic continuity among those trained artists;
this stability is why salons and academies worked to some degree as measures of talent and excellence. Modernismís
movements (which developed in spite of the modern thinking artistís self-imposed disassociation) were primarily
affectations assumed by those involved that were used to create -or orient their works towards -an acceptable notion
of value. The thinking goes something like this: ìwe (insert movement here) have collective ideas, activities, and
works, and thus we have a system (people + ideas + actions = self-validating societal unit) for the creation of value;
given these conditions, you (the viewer) should recognize it.î The movements were value-creators used to fill the
value void that ensued following any so-called avant-garde artistís separation from the mainstream group. These
segregationists simply joined other groups to validate their values, and in so doing they entered into a new vernacular.
The groupthink aspect of these movements was strong, as seen in the angst-ridden relations between early
movements. At least they were all loosely against what had come before, as well as the art-environments into which
they were thrust. Of course, much of the problem that movements within modernism and postmodernism had with
preceding periods was that purportedly these prior movements were elitist and unresponsive -even antagonistic -to
the personal directions of individual artists. (It is fittingly ironic then that these recent directions, so ideologically
haughty themselves, have become exactly what they reacted against.) This alienation among artists necessitated the
powerful stylistic urges and ideology-based groups of artists at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries.
The most visible examples of these collectives would include the Nabi, Impressionist, and Secession groups, which
were active most importantly in Europe between the 1880s and 1920s.
But that was not all. Even as the influence of modernism and postmodernism began to destroy the masterpiece
ideal, the two rubrics initiated a change in dialogue from technical, readily readable content to conceptual, rhetorical
content. This particular change is responsible for the swift alteration of the artistic endeavor at end of the 19th century,
as well as for the myriad of accepted yet poorly skilled artists that came to prominence around this time. Technical
prowess is exclusive and is often seen as the domain of conservatively minded people, while philosophical relativity
allows for all, including fools and rebels. We live with the legacy of these changes, for better or for worse.
With the advent of Postmodernism, we lost our interest in groups, essentially sending each artist off into his or her
own vast sea of self-expression. Unfortunately, without the presence of constraints, many artistsí works flounder with
little or no direction. Artists have few means of valid interaction and helpful criticism, as the major art institutions and
press entertain themselves with pretense and tautological excess. Postmodernism has exacted the implied
disassociation of artists from each other so that even if they are able to dialogue on ideas and concepts, they are in
many cases removed from a true empathic acceptance of each otherís work. As the 1990ís came and went, the
overriding dialogue read more and more like a sociological treatise with a dose of leftist geopolitical rancor added for
good measure. What were -indeed, what are -artists to do?
Artists ought to create their own vernaculars based within the context of their own work.
Artists ought to make their work readable apart from the pretense of the art dialogue. Can the work be approached;
can it be read? Obviously these questions are not easily answered, nor are they answered the same for all who view or
make art. However, the antagonistic artist, one who sees no need for openness, is the artist who is cut off from the
viewer. Walls are fine, as long as they serve the purpose of a wall: to enclose and protect precious conceptions.
Artists ought to be technically skilled. I believe that the technical understanding of those who have gone before is
important to this endeavor, though I expect many of my peers would disagree. Let them create art works with little
skill; I will attempt to claim the inherent value of finely crafted and skillfully executed work by any means necessary.
The skillful hand is neither tight (ask Titian or Nerdrum) nor conservative (ask Assael or Caravaggio), though those
tools are at its disposal at times. Technical skill is one of the most misunderstood aspects of art making today, and it
is one of the most undervalued tools that the artist has.
Artists ought to note the relational stance of open, vernacular images. That openness allows the viewer to respond
by looking in toward the work and then at its relationship to other like works, rather than out to the art world and
historical schemas. Contextual vernacular can be used with many forms, but it is especially useful to the non-ironic,
non-cynical artwork. This viability, of course, is the reason that the art world has always reacted so harshly against
kitsch and other affirmative forms. These expressions do not, in general, need the art worldís stamp of approval to
contain value; ironic, amoral, subversive works do. Artists who can remain almost entirely outside the strictures of the
art dialogue are safe from the tyranny of artís opinion-makers.
Artists ought to be truly open, rejecting irony and cynicism. One of the most heinous crimes of the art world is its
hypocrisy regarding these very attitudes. Even as it claims that all is acceptable, that all opinions are valid, that any
directions are open, it betrays itself. The proponents and initiators of elitist art today are among the most closed, anti-
pluralistic, partisan people wielding power in our world. Beware their leftist ideals and rhetoric; rejoice in earnest, non-
subversive, affirmative voices.
These statements and challenges are a proposed literacy. So much is made of visual languages and idiosyncratic
voices in art, but what of interpretation, of understanding? What good is it to veil a thing if there is no intention of
lifting the veil? Indeed, what good is it to veil a thing if it is not worth uncovering?
Catalogue Information
