Plans, Propositions, and Realizations

Principle of Polarity: The Orbital Rebus (Study for Mercury: Operation of the Sun through the Cult of the Hand ), 1987. Ink and graphite on vellum, artist-made frame, 23.75 × 23.75 in.

Return to issue

Plans, Propositions, and Realizations

by Mel Chin
Southern Cultures, Vol. 26, No. 2: Art & Vision

“A drawing is sometimes confirmation to me that the shenanigans needed for a complex work are justified, a visual consideration of a much bigger action.”

This selection of drawings and sketches represents thoughts, visions, and various objects and observations, conveying my diverse spectrum of engagements over a few decades. Consider some of them “best laid plans” that didn’t necessarily come to fruition yet yielded studies and carefully wrought documents that became stand-alone artworks. Others are investigations or connected digressions made during the process of completing large-scale installations or instigations.