drawing machines

http://hektor.ch/

I have came across this website for a drawing machine, Hektor.

"Hektor is a portable Spray-paint Output Device for laptop computers...Hektor’s light and fragile installation consists only of two motors, toothed belts and a can holder that handles regular spray cans. The can is moved along drawing paths just as the human hand or old plotters would. During operation, the mechanism sometimes trembles and wobbles, and the paint often drips. The contrasts between these low-tech aspects and the high-tech touch of the construction hold ambiguous and poetic qualities and make Hektor enjoyable to watch in action.

Hektor was created with a certain attitude towards design and the use of tools. Intuition played an important role in the search for a new output device that goes beyond the limitations of today's clean computer, screen and vector-graphic based design and conveys the abstract geometries contained in these graphics in a different way than normal printers do.

The aim was to make a statement about design by providing a new tool to other designers and artists to experiment with, a tool with an inherently particular and distinctive aesthetic."

The videos are really amazing.

There are also many other similar designs using pens.

http://www.as220.org/labs/blog/drawbot/

http://www.polargraph.co.uk/whats-a-polargraph/

http://web.me.com/sami6877/unanything/Site/Secret_Work/Entries/2010/6/1_Drawbot.html

http://vimeo.com/channels/drawingmachines#13233410

"The process is long, sometimes taking multiple weeks nonstop to finish a drawing. In a sense the machine is the artist, abiding to a specific set of rules as it decides how to draw."

How do you draw?

Set up of "How do you draw?" exhibition. Norman Rea Gallery. York. May.

Latex

For the last month I have been attempting to catch my graphite drawings in latex. It has been an ongoing problem and is something that I have now given up on.

The original plan was to create a sheet of latex, wait til it was almost dry, then create the drawing on the top surface.

Although I had some success with this, with the drawing successfully being made and captured, I have had continual problems with the latex itself.

Firstly, I had problems in creating the latex sheet, trying to find a suitable surface to make it on that would allow me to pour the liquid latex and hold it whilst it dried. After multiple attempts at different surfaces, I finally stopped at non stick baking trays that seemed to work the best. Despite this, it also led to new problems, with it becoming almost impossible to remove the latex from the baking rays without completely destroying the drawings (due to the latex stretching and holes being made in the sheet.)

I also had the major problem with the time that the latex took to dry. Thick layers of the latex took weeks to dry, even with hardening agent added to it. I began to make very thin layers at a time, waiting til the first coat was completely dry before adding another, building them up. This was very time consuming and still did not work particularly well with the surface becoming marked and yellowing. Also due to the time that it took to dry, the latex also picked up fibres from the room that I was unable to stop, making the latex dirty and marked.

I have now given up on using latex and have moved on to other materials that will hopefully successfully trap the graphite.

fallen string

Balls of string dropped from sculpture court balcony to floor below. Looking at the idea of chance and lack of control of how the drawing will work out. A simple action of dropping the balls of string resulting in different uncontrollable shapes.

Graphite samples

Graphite floor drawings. Samples on white paper.

Powder in snow

Multiple coloured powder on snow. Multiple lines. In back garden and around ECA.

Looking at the effect time has on the drawings, as the snow melts, people walk through drawings, changing and destroying the work. The fragility of the piece and how it can exist for a limited time only.

Pin structures

metal pins, stacked, piled and fallen.