‘In order to go on living one must try to escape the death involved in perfection.’
Arendt, H. (1958), Rahel Varnhagen: The Life of a Jewess. East and West Library p 136
(LERA – HAKG https://share.google/yVaOzMsugpw8uLy0x)
Marina Warner quotes John Berger (though no source cited) as saying, with reference to ‘the vitality of art made thousands of years ago’, “in the beginning there was no fumbling”. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v22/n08/marina-warner/a-new-twist-in-the-long-tradition-of-the-grotesque
Some indelible/ineradicable images I made last year. All first time experiments with media/process. Exciting to make and clearly ‘flawed’. Asks questions about immediacy/risk taking/permanence. Commitment to one shot and it’s done. Errors ineradicable. Indelible marks – no over-painting, rubbing out etc possible but only starting again – put all this to the test.
Etched zinc plate with aquatint, print
Drawing on tin foil plate after etching, print
Life drawing with stick and bleach on inked paper
Trace monoprint
Examples of ineradicable art
Parallels with work seen at Cantabrian caves and Guggenheim Bilbao September 2026.
Hornas de la Pena cave
Engraving of an ithyphallic anthropomorphic figure with an undefined face and raised arm, culminating in a webbed hand and long tail.
Chufin cave
1.Deep engraving of a female deer.
Erlea Maneros Zabala
The artistic inquiry of Erlea Maneros Zabala (Bilbao, 1977) focuses on the nature of representation and the role played by the media in shaping contemporary narratives through their treatment of the image and their interpretation of history.
Basque Script; Typography and Ornamentation 1961 – 1967
Engraving on copper plate 32 x 45 x 9 cm (with frame) each
Research questions
Reflecting on what the making of indelible marks means/feels like for me.
The primacy (or not) of intention? What is/counts as creative intention? Global industries devoted to the question, especially in attempts to decode cave art.
Risk-taking integral to realising intention but the realisation of intention at the same time may (but not must, as there can be multiple attemps to achieve the initial intention exactly as envisaged) involve ‘reflection in the making’ (per Candy p 56) – ie allow the flow to alter the direction of the original intention, creating a recursive set of risks. Is there a psychoanalytical analogy? There may be remembering, repeating or working through, though not necessarily as a continuous process.
At the same time, need to be alert to the compromise of making do with a ‘good enough’ outcome or, more dishonestly, attempting to justify failure/alteration of intention as a succesful result of creative ‘flow’. Balancing pursuit of exact realisation of intention against being surprised by/open to new possibilities. Also, know when the latter is best kept for another time or vice versa.
‘Happy accidents’ may be just that or they may be lazy cop-outs/excuses!