In November, I rented a small space in Baltimore. It’s around 125 sq. ft. I’ve already filled it with the studio necessities, like drawing table given to me by my sister Breon, a sculptor and long-time Baltimore artist. There’s a wobbly table left by the previous tenant, and a built-in table that collapsed when I leaned on it. And a palette table with wheels, also from my sister. Hoping to begin painting, I ordered canvas and stretcher bars. These sit on the floor taking up valuable space.

For some months, I’ve been carrying around 11 x 14 black and white photocopies of sections of a piece I made in 2011 titled, Pontiac. Around 2 weeks ago, I began pinning the black and white copies to the wall, putting them together into configurations. Actually, I didn’t really choose where which piece went. I just put them up in rows, each section falling into place. In a short time, there were 3 arrangements of elements configured into 3 pieces. Included in 2 of the arrangements was a copy of a hamburger wrapper from McDonald’s that I’d been admiring for its savvy design. I took installation and close-up photos, posting some on Instagram, my first postings in 6-7 months. That was the first week.

Sometime during the second week, I printed out the close-ups on a new and inexpensive HP printer. I mention the printer because the quality of the prints, rich grays, unexpected textures, impacted my choice of pinning these to the wall. In a short time, there was a second group of configurations up on the studio wall.

I was wondering what to call these. Are they drawings? Studies? Maquettes?

Below, left to right:

Configuration 4, photomechanical reproduction, pushpins, 32 in. x 25 in., 2.20.20.

Configuration 5, photomechanical reproduction, pushpins, 21.5 in. 16.5 in., 2.20.20.

Configuration 5 (detail), photomechanical reproduction, pushpins, 21.5 in. x 16.5 in., 2.20.20.