Beaver : Writers Statement

All possibilities exist at once. This idea is the backbone of the parallel universe theory - that all the possibilities for every action exist as an alternate universe. Because there are an infinite number of possibilities, there is an infinite number of parallel universes, and therefore, an infinite number of you. A parallel universe for you oversleeping this morning, losing your homework, wearing different clothes... it goes on.

http://library.thinkquest.org/2890/para.htm

I first encountered the cut-up method on a poetry project in 2000. The aim: to free the writer; to by-pass the blank-page-what-should-I-write syndrome. It worked then; it works now.

Material is everywhere: the cookery book; the sadly deceased :here magazine; the Guardian. The material is chosen at random; the words are picked either randomly or by a regular pattern (for instance, third word, first paragraph, each page). The words are arranged either in the order they were picked or rearranged to amuse me.

and bag was produced as part of that project. For and bag the words were circled at random on the page. They were linked to form a "narrative". The original page was then hand-coloured, scanned, printed and framed. The process is stratified in the image.

Recently, I have applied this method to images. The process (call it montage if you like) replicates the cut-up text method: select random images; select parts of the image at random; arrange either in sequence or in a pattern to amuse me.

One piece, life fragments: one is a product of this process. The fragments have been selected from a sequence of folders on my hard disk. The first image in each folder has been selected. The central portion of each image has been copied. This has been pasted onto a new canvas. The next folder has been opened, the first image selected, etc, etc.

All these pieces are linked by a common theme; they all represent another set of possibilities; they are alternate realities. They are glimpses into parallel universes.

Beaver