In Plato’s dialogue Cratylus, concerning the nature of words, Socrates and Hermogenes agree that words with great value placed on them remain unexplained as to the motives and manifestation of their existence. “Technē”, meaning “art” or “to create” was the first example spoken about. They go on to speak about the great difficulty in realizing a word’s original meaning after its evolution, noting that “mechane”, meaning “contrivance” in association with great accomplishment, has been added into the word for art, “techne”.
Without any linguistic background, the relationship between the word “techne” and words like “mechanical”, “technology”, and most directly, “technique” are apparent.
I think of the creation of each work of art as being made with a new technology. The ‘upgrade’ is a technology of the mind; a technique, or a variation of technique.
Originally named “squigglies” by David in the first grade, the medium for these abstractions began with no.2 pencil on journal paper and has definitively grown into colored pencils (wax-based) on black paper.
The reasoning for this evolution is the colored pencils’ high level of opacity in conjunction with the effect that blackness, or near blackness has on surrounding colors within the subtractive color system. Normally, any local color one perceives is greatly influenced by the other color(s) surrounding that perceived color. Conversely, a color surrounded by a lack of color, or blackness, maintains its perceived unique identity and untainted vibrance.
The “squigglies" essentially utilize both worlds, as each little line of color is surrounded by different colors as well as a lack of color working simultaneously to form both vibrant unity and compartmentalized intricacy. Analogous to this is a collective of people forming a common cause,
The ‘rules’ of their making are:
I. All lines; only lines—lines, lines, lines. II. Each composition must be unique to all others. III. The lines of color must fill the page.
The first composition (I) is the original design drawn by hand with colored pencils on black paper, professionally scanned into a digital file.
Now in digital space, I extract a carefully chosen rectangle within that composition into an isolated state (II).
The ‘chosen rectangle' is then reflected on all four sides of itself; “squared”(III).
These are the patterns used to decorate the Ktechnē apparel and give each piece an identity of art.
This pattern is a new design, yet it would not exist without its parent design.
