MICHAEL ROUILLARD | "100 PAGES" 1993-2017 + NEW PAINTINGS

Press Release

The piece started in 1993 with the simple act of scribbling with a black ballpoint pen in a 14 x 11" sketch pad (soon after 8 pens were held). In order to treat the entire surface at once the pad was rotated every so often then flipped to do the same thing to the reverse side. A group of 7 or 8 pages were worked on at once until darkened to a dense, sometimes shiny black surface (until line melded into plane). The piece was worked on sporadically and is open-ended as to when it will be finished.

Stacked Installation

Around 1996 I decided to show the accumulated pages stacked on a steel shelf. The shelf would be placed on a line about 36” above the floor defining the area the pages would cover if placed next to each other on the wall. The work was shown like this in 1999 as "30 Pages" and in 2003 as "46 Pages.” When shown stacked the sparseness of the installation belies the obsessive-compulsive activity of the piece, an activity which remains almost entirely unseen and hidden; a private practice made public to the mind's eye, but not to the eye itself since the relation of the pages to the area defined is not readily apparent. The energy expended in the blackening of the pages remains contained - hidden. In a sense, it is done then denied, making the mindless act of scribbling seem even more absurd - a black hole.

Serial Installation

Here the piece is shown for the first time with the pages lined up next to each other - revealed, but only partially (since one can’t see the backs). Ultimately, it will again “rest” back in the stack.