Leo Je-Eon Lee
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self-talk (v.)
self-talk is a procedure of multiple iterations of shitty translation.
self-talk forces me to switch between the roles of author and reader. I suppose the act of painting is the act of the author and the observing of painting is the act of the reader. I repeat switching between the two roles. To force myself to be the reader, I set a timer for 1 hour and observe. While reading my work I do not question how to further work on them, such as what marks I should make as the author. Distanced from my own work, I slowly observe as if looking at someone else's work. If I find visually interesting parts, I often make drawings from those parts during this reading session. Drawing is quick and less burdensome. It is a reader's analysis, which, borrowing from Roland Barthes, is a writerly reading. After the hour for the reader is over the author's session starts. During this time, although I do not refer back to the drawings I made during the reading session, my body and eyes are used to the lines and shapes from the drawings. The author deliberately places and uses these forms inside a frame to create a picture. This is the writing. Together, the reading and writing session is one self-talk session, and the entire process is a repetition of these sessions. As I repeat self-talk, the painting diverges from where the first author started, and it alters depending on the decisions made by the readers and authors of each session. Using my definition of language and context, self-talk is a translation of context but not language. I maintain the language of painting, but as the painting evolves, the reader and author are placed in different contexts.
self-talk is a procedure.
self-talk is a procedure that repeats reading and writing.
in self-talk, I am both the author and the reader; both the author and reader survive.
one self-talk consists of one reading session and one writing session.
both sessions are timed.
during the reading session, I observe the piece for a set time.
during the writing session, I work on the piece for a set time.
self-talk must be repeated.
self-talk must be repeated.
each iteration of self-talk is a shitty translation.
it is not important for the author and reader to have equal power in this process.
however, I force myself to be a better listener.
self-talk brings us (author and all readers and thus all authors) to an undirected somewhere.
self-talk may be forced to an end, such as selling the piece.