FIVE ARROWS, POINTING SOME WAY, SOMEWHERE
五支箭头，向某路，向某处
an in situ performance for BLDG 333, Markham, ON
行为表演 加拿大安大略省万锦市BLDG333
2022-06-11
And when you’ve lost your power as a weapon, there is nothing left to do but turn into a symbol. And as a new symbol you often have to shed past used parts – maybe your shaft, your point. And you come to terms with that reality turning into a shape. And your new shape creates new friends. And your new friends create new neighbourhoods. And your new neighbourhoods create new worlds. And before you know it, you are universal. And your ancient identity since ancient times, which acquired different meanings based on the culture you were in, becomes a universal lesson today. And you think about how you were a symbol of life and protection, yet also conquest and war.
而当你失去了作为武器的力量时，除了变成一个符号，就没有其它可做了。而作为一个新的符号，你往往不得不舍弃过去使用过的部分--也许是你的轴，你的点。而你要接受这个现实，变成一个形状。而你的新形状创造了新的朋友。而你的新朋友创造了新的邻里关系。而你的新邻居创造了新的世界。在你知道之前，你是世界的。你自古以来的身份，根据你所处的文化获得了不同的含义，今天变成了一个普遍的教训。你想一想你是如何成为生命和保护的象征，但也是征服和战争的象征。
And in a gleam of an eye you became love and desire. And elsewhere you were courage, concentration, strength and perseverance. And all those attributes eventually gave way to a single supremacy, the power of navigating obstacles. And you find your way – some way. And you find the notion of here, there and eventually where - somewhere. And as a marking you continue to point to elsewhere. And you hear the murmur from the crowd, their feet or tires downwards on you. And you think about how you were and still are vibrant, achieving purposes or goals. And all those hurdles you surpassed implied that anything can be overcome. And then you realize that you are infinity. And the opportunities and the chances you beckoned are in fact and in hope, endless. And so, all is well. And then it happens. And when you lose your power as a symbol there seems nothing left to do but turn back into a weapon. And you have no other strategic thought. And you despair. And then you remember...you have your art.”
在发光的眼神中，你变成了爱和欲望。而在其他地方，你是勇气、专注、力量和毅力。而所有这些属性最终都让位于一个至高无上的地位，即驾驭障碍的力量。而你找到了你的方式--某种方式。而且你找到了这里、那里和最终哪里的概念--某个地方。而作为一种标记，你继续指向其它地方。你听到人群中的杂音，他们的脚或轮胎向下踩在你身上。而你想一想你过去和现在是如何充满活力，实现目的或目标。而你所超越的那些障碍，暗示着任何事情都可以被克服。然后你意识到，你是无限的。而你带来的机会和机遇，事实上，也希望是无止境的。因此，一切都很好。然后它就发生了。当你失去作为象征的力量时，除了变回武器，似乎没有什么可以做了。而你没有其他的战略思想。你绝望了。然后你记得......你有你的艺术。"
The notion of the ‘everyday’ is significant within line marker works. Ideas surrounding the routine, natural or habitual seem to align with the contemporary interest in the everyday and of the constant communication of the general public’s pursuits. Exploring the implications and significance of an everyday, omnipresent, visual transportation code we live with; the line marker’s contemporary meaning and future possibilities seem still to be compelling. Examining the connecting surface which links our movement is an opportunity to attempt to produce an exceptional creative experience. To define this resulting experience has been vast.
“日常”的概念在线标作品中是很重要的。围绕着常规的、自然的或习惯性的想法似乎与当代人们对日常的兴趣和对大众追求的不断交流相一致。探讨一个日常的、无处不在的、我们生活中的视觉交通代码的含义和意义；线标的当代意义和未来的可能性似乎仍然是引人注目的。考察连接我们运动的连接面是一个尝试产生特殊创造性经验的机会。要定义这种经验是非常庞大的。
One aspect of THE LINE MARKER PRACTICE has been performance. The repainting of existing lines on a road as a performance component began as a diarist endeavour in 1996 on the Trans Canada highway, just outside of Canmore, AB. The performance time, location, weather, latitude, surrounding landscape and length of painting time was noted in a ledger, akin to a topographer’s journal. This process eventually gave way to a photograph, primarily documenting the specific action of repainting, rather than place.
线路标记实践的一个方面是行为表演。1996年，在AB省坎莫尔郊外的跨加拿大高速公路上，将现有的线条重新涂抹作为一种行为表演的内容，开始了日记式的努力。行为表演的时间、地点、天气、纬度、 周围的景观和绘画时间的长度被记录在一个账本上，类似于地形学家的日记。这个过程最终让位于一张照片，主要记录重画的具体行动，而不是地点。
Repainting is a purposeful term since the performance’s inception. The reaffirmation of existing lines – not changing colour or code – posits the act within the history of performance art as intervention; while continuing its conceptual applications. Performances developed and continue as a sole endeavour or have been affiliated with exhibitions and festivals. Locations of performances are tied to specific project narratives, landscapes or other autonomous meanings.
从行为表演开始，"重绘 "就是一个有目的的术语。对现有线条的重申--不改变颜色或代码--作为干预，将该行为置于行为艺术的历史中；同时继续其概念性应用。行为作为一种单独的努力而发展和继续，或者与展览和节日相联系。表演的地点与特定的项目叙事、景观或其他自主的意义相联系。
The performance of FIVE ARROWS POINTING SOME WAY, SOMEWHERE is a new departure in this conclusive chapter of the performance’s history.
“五支箭头，向某种方式，向某处”，是行为表演历史上这一结论性章节的新起点。
New, in the sense of two elements: one, the acting of painting rather than repainting will be undertaken – creating a schematic where one did not exist. This decision is self-monumental within a practice that has been described as reductive. Like riding a tricycle in a barrel where every movement/decision is meaningful; the gesture of creating rather than recreating on a surface that has been examined as a (re)creative opportunity is of significance. This examination is acquiesced; mitigated by the decision to paint an arrow rather than a line. Two: the act of painting / repainting has always been done with a free hand. No guide, fence of template has been used for over twenty-five years. To employ a template created for such industry use is a necessary design and logistic nod, but more than that industry wayfarer; the opportunity to eliminate the hands sense of exploration or gesture is to nod to the projects history of a civic provided language that is post-aesthetic.
之所以称之为新，是在两个层面的意义上：一，将采取绘画而不是重新绘画的行动--在空地创造一个图式。这个决定在一个被描述为还原性的实践中是自我纪念的。就像在一个桶里骑三轮车，每一个动作/决定都是有意义的；在一个已经被检验为（重新）创造机会的表面上，创造而不是重新创造的姿态是有意义的。这种检验是被默许的；通过决定画一个箭头而不是一条线来缓解。二：绘画/重新绘画的行为一直是用手完成的，模板已经使用了二十五年之久。采用为这种为行业使用而创建的模板是必要的设计，但比这个更多的是行业的路人甲；消除手感的探索或手势的机会是向由公民提供的语言项目的历史点头，是后审美的。
Further, there has always been something Renaissance-like attached to my process. The road as plaster wall...the painting fresco like – one shot, no preparation. The preparation is within the writings, planned drafts and composed multiples. Although the painting (noun) and act of painting (verb) have been of interest; within Renaissance frescoes the preliminary drawing is often filled with invention. The drawing laid on the surface perforated and then pounced to guide the hand is perhaps my cardboard template. The constructed multiple, SPOLVERO produced as an accompanied work to the performance, is a direct nod to this dialogue.
此外，在我的创作过程中，总是有一些文艺复兴式的东西。道路是石膏墙......绘画像壁画一样--一气呵成，没有准备。准备工作是在写作、计划中的草稿和多种组成中进行的。虽然绘画（名词）和绘画行为 （动词）一直是人们感兴趣的；在文艺复兴时期的壁画中，初步的绘画却往往充满了发明。铺在表面穿孔的图纸引导手，这也许是我的纸板模板。作为行为的伴奏作品，擦拭（SPOLVERO）的多重构造性，是对这种对话的直接点头。
Finally, the notion and schematic history of the arrow as mused above is also underscored and found in the labour of painting. Ideas of and definitions applied to the notion of labour, are as diverse as one’s encounter with arrows. On the road, the arrow is as direct or imaginative as one’s state of mind. What is essential in observing an arrow, is to imagine the places and the people to where it points. What is essential in watching one paint an arrow, is to imagine that possibly they know what lies ahead.
最后，如上所述，箭头的概念和图解历史也在绘画的劳动中得到强调和发现。适用于劳动概念的想法和定义，就像一个人与箭头的相遇一样多样化。在路上，箭头就像一个人的思想状态一样直接或富有想象力。观察一支箭头，最重要的是想象它所指向的地方和人。看一个人画箭头，重要的是想象他们可能知道前面是什么。
C. Wells
2022
THE LINE MARKER PRACTICE is an ongoing project to project conceptual process using the road, its line marker schematic and paint as a creative index. Since 1996, I have developed a method and means that has been exampled in paintings, installations, performance, text works, time-based chronicles, public art and research-based interventions. Various projects have concentrated on colloquial nuances of specific geographies and their markings or conversely, addressed the line marker as a global omnipresent signifier. ‘Landscape’ as a construct and subject has been considered as city, country, rural, urban and the spaces in-between.
“线标实践”是一个正在进行的项目，使用道路、其线标示意图和油漆作为创造性的索引来预测概念过程。自1996年以来，我已经开发了一种方法和手段，在绘画、装置、表演、文字作品、基于时间的编年史、公共艺术和基于研究的干预中得到了检验。各种项目都集中在特定地理及其标记口语的细微差别上，或者反过来说，把线条标记作为一个全球性的无所不在的标志物。“景观”作为一种构造和主题被认为是城市、乡镇、农村、都市和在其之间的空间。
Beginning in 2001, I concentrated on the heritage or historicity of the line marker, tracing its origins to Michigan, its inventor and the biographical meanings of this device at the cusp of industrial modernity in 1911. This lead to repeated research delves in Detroit and subsequent studio explorations surrounding notions of biography and narrative.
从2001年开始，我专注于线标的遗产或历史性，追踪它在密歇根州的起源，它的发明者和这个装置在 1911年工业现代性的边缘的传记意义。这导致了在底特律的反复研究和随后围绕传记和叙事概念的工作室探索。
Painting as idea and as process concurrently developed as I produced works and exhibitions surrounding conceptual to pataphysical notions of: lines, marking, mapping, geographical shared latitudes, graffiti as a related language, the element of distance visually captured by thickness, the line marker as a device within pop culture and road marker words such as LANE, ONLY, SCHOOL etc. as lines shaped further with cross-cultural meanings.
绘画作为理念和过程同时发展，我制作了围绕以下概念的作品和展览：线条、标记、绘图、地理共享纬度、涂鸦作为一种相关语言、通过厚度视觉捕捉的距离元素、线条标记作为流行文化中的一种设备，以及道路标记词，如LANE、ONLY、SCHOOL等，作为线条进一步塑造了跨文化的含义。
All these processes have summed up an intent and been curatorially received over the twenty-four years as: new treatises of landscape painting, explorations of open and or imposed meanings of coded regulated language, the city as image, narrations on labour, analog technology, notions of the everyday and painting’s ‘found object’. I continue to work akin in spirit to that of the topographer, executing ideas like a contemporary journeyman avid for information. Creatively itinerant and multi-disciplined, the process of investigating a language that oscillates between representation and abstraction continues.
所有这些过程总结了一个意图，并在24年中被策划性地接受为：风景画的新论述，对编码规范语言的开放和或强加的意义的探索，作为图像的城市，对劳动的叙述，模拟技术，日常概念和绘画的 "发现物"。我继续在做精神上类似于地形学家的工作，像一个当代热衷于信息的行家一样执行想法。创造性的巡回行为表演和多学科的工作结合，继续调查一种在表现和抽象之间摇摆的语言过程。
C. Wells
Closed Template Painting 2022, line marker on cardboard
闭合的模板绘画 2022年，纸板上的线标
A Straight Arrow
直线箭头
“MICHIGAN
1911
The first traffic lines to designate road lanes were painted in white on River Road, near Trenton in Wayne County, in the autumn of 1911. It was described as a “center line safety stripe.” Machines were later developed which cut the cost of the painting.”
"密西根州 1911 1911年秋天，在韦恩县特伦顿附近的河公路上，第一条用于指定公路车道的交通线被涂成白色。它被描述为 "中心线安 全条纹"。后来开发了机器，减少了涂漆的成本。"
‘A Nation in Motion: Historic American Transportation Sites’ Page 48 An informal Compilation by the United States Department of Transportation Office of the Secretary Office of Environmental Affairs
《一个运动中的国家。美国历史上的交通遗址》 第48页 美国交通部的非正式汇编 秘书长办公室 环境事务办公室
艺术家个人网站：www.cwells.com
摄像 Photography: Dong Li / Jingkai Wang
Five Arrows, Pointing Some Way, Somewhere - an in situ performance for BLDG 333, Markham, ON