BLOTSPLOTCH
Blotsplotch is a research project, which takes a mind-independent, novel entity named "Blotsplotch" as its premise. Modeled on the way a scientist might venture a hypothetical particle or a philosopher might argue a counterfactual case, Blotsplotch examines hypothetical and counterfactual conditions on art-related topics, studying them in exaggerated and unnatural states by assigning qualities to a speculative entity and analyzing the effects.
If Blotsplotch were a mind-altering possessor, for example, how would that problematize topics in authorship, intention, and influence? What challenges to connoisseurship arise when the object of attention (Blotsplotch, the project, or Blotsplotch, the entity) exhibits infinite, mutable, or modal qualities? What impact might extra-sensory effects have on perception or extra-human values on aesthetics? While such questions are specialized concerns, outliers to how art is customarily experienced, to those interested individuals compelled to the boundaries of what art could be, please continue.
Below are links to the exhibition catalog Blotsplotch Only Wants as well as to the Blotsplotch Suite—the fifty-six drawings— wherein the entity first materialized. Presented in collation with Guy Deblot's essay "Society of Splotch," the Blotsplotch Suite represents the primary source of the Blotsplotch phenomenon. Deblot's essay, while not essential to the drawings proper, prolongs the aesthetic experience in a conducive manner, guiding viewers in conjunction with the Blotsplotch Suite toward a firsthand encounter with the entity, while excerpts from Blotsplotch Only Wants provide context. A curio in its own right, Blotsplotch Only Wants survives in a single copy—a heavily revised prototype sequestered by the exhibition's curator. Its contents survey the current state of Blotsplotch scholarship and supply cautionary insights to Blotsplotch studies and related side effects.
“How naturally we entify and give life to such.”
—Michael Taussig (The Magic of the State)
SOME WORDS OF WARNING: Nothing prohibits the independent study of Blotsplotch. Indeed, further experiments and simulations are welcome, but before hazarding your concentration, please consider the following. Blotsplotch has three foundational qualities: existence, otherness, and novelty. There are, however, emergent qualities, of which to be wary. Most notably is that Blotsplotch is desirous. In every simulation, it always only wants. Blotsplotch consumes time. It consumes attention. It consumes cognition. Without warning, the subject's open-endedness becomes labyrinthine, and worst of all: the most hypothetical feature of the entire speculative endeavor is that of its audience.
Blotsplotch Only Wants
The following excerpts are compiled from early drafts and galley proofs of the exhibition catalog Blotsplotch Only Wants, provided by its editor Marlene Lehner. According to Ms. Lehner, the excerpts are nearly identical to the contents of the actual catalog, lacking only a few dozen photographs and "annotations" unique to her copy, the specifics of which she is legally prohibited from sharing.
PREFACE
"Number of the Least"
Marlene N. Lehner
INTRODUCTION
"Blotsplotch: Some Whys and Wherefores"
Sylvanus
ESSAY
"The Blotsplotch Drawings: Again for the First Time"
Rorsplotch Folio
Anatoly K. Yezhov
APPENDIX A
"Blotsplotch by the Numbers"
Marlene N. Lehner, Stephanie Howe, and Esteban E. Rivera
APPENDIX B
"Catalog of Inkforms"
Blotsplotch Graphology Project
COLOPHON INDEX & BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Blotsplotch Suite
NOTE: The drawings are cataloged individually (as opposed to one downloadable file) for reasons that become apparent upon further study. Please close each drawing on your computer before opening another.
Drawing 01 Drawing 20 Drawing 39
Drawing 02 Drawing 21 Drawing 40
Drawing 03 Drawing 22 Drawing 41
Drawing 04 Drawing 23 Drawing 42
Drawing 05 Drawing 24 Drawing 43
Drawing 06 Drawing 25 Drawing 44
Drawing 07 Drawing 26 Drawing 45
Drawing 08 Drawing 27 Drawing 46
Drawing 09 Drawing 28 Drawing 47
Drawing 10 Drawing 29 Drawing 48
Drawing 11 Drawing 30 Drawing 49
Drawing 12 Drawing 31 Drawing 50
Drawing 13 Drawing 32 Drawing 51
Drawing 14 Drawing 33 Drawing 52
Drawing 15 Drawing 34 Drawing 53
Drawing 16 Drawing 35 Drawing 54
Drawing 17 Drawing 36 Drawing 55
Drawing 18 Drawing 37 Drawing 56
Drawing 19 Drawing 38
“Volleys of what-ifs reveal the What.”
OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE VENTURE CORPOREALIST
The Blotsplotch Project is ongoing, and the artist invites inquiries from any curator, patron, or collaborator interested in its advancement. There is ample research to fund: new works to commission, images to detain, and objects to impound. There are black sites for biennales and bountiful co-author credits. With your assistance, Blotsplotch can gain the ontological recognition it only wants.
