(Detail) Ink, pigment marker and pencil on paper; 12.75" x 11"

  045 Plasmatic FK 2014/2021  

“Plasmatic FK” is a series of ink drawings based on paintings by American artist Franz Kline and inspired by the plasmatic form of Mickey Mouse and other animated figures. Pioneer filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein admired what he called the plasmaticity of Disney’s characters, which allowed them to shape-shift into different forms. Inorganic matter, primordial ooze, tools, animal, plant, and human — all exist in a state of transformation and communication. Eisenstein likened it to the mystical kinship found in totemic and animistic religions, which assign living intelligence to non-human actors.

In these drawings, Kline’s energetic brushstrokes are transformed into dark primordial blobs. The blob cells have computational intelligence in some sense — exchanging chemical information via inputs and outputs, following intensity gradients to some higher purpose. They are drawn meticulously but as a system they seem fluid.

The drawings are made on 200g paper and are all roughly 14” x 11”.