Julian Simmons, NOW

About

“In each between 75,000 and 150,000 feet of graphite line, 15 – 30 miles of tone and bare intention; in all 11 drawings probably over 200 miles …just off Hackney road.”

“How long does it take to make each drawing?”

“I’m often asked that, it’s probably many many more days than you might imagine – near to hypnotic limits, ultimately that’s not important, the show is titled ‘NOW’ …my experiment is to take time [duration] out of the equation …amplitude is key.
I recall the Tibetan concept of the cosmos – especially the entirely circular Kalachakra, with it’s various diameters measured precisely in variable units; I’ve always been curious that a philosophy of consciousness can be measured so specifically and elastically!  I’m not a whole-sale advocate of any philosophy, except ‘the mind behind’ …and being intensely curious of it.”

“Why ‘MILKMASTER’ drawings?”

“I’m Milking the Mystical.”

“Cosmic Eye?”

“…yes – and Celestial Breast!
…and it goes without saying – Self-portrait; they are microcosmic.  Nothing has ever looked at you like this.”

“I can’t recall seeing a two-dimensional work – drawing or painting – that so acknowledged it’s existence by being viewed at an acute angle.

These drawings exist for the not-flat – for not being themself, while being the only agent of themself. Perceptual mirrors? Mirrors of consciousness? …I’m not sure how to place them, but they are something strange, powerful, positive, and addictive to the self. They operate in terms of a device or a chemical …the mind behind? – yes in their recording they seem to have transposed Simmons’s mind onto a sheet of paper, and which plays itself back when observed – such that you wonder if there is someone else – or some mind else, in the room.”

Last show of the solar year – closes on the winter solstice, a herald for 2016!