The piece comes from experiences when I was young and tried to focus on the magnetic pull of a pencil, spoon, or other metalliic object between my eyes without lookinig at it. I would then try and feel the object move instead of seeing where it goes.
I restaged this practice in the context of performance after having done a series of conventional self portraits where I rely on the mirror and my eyes for information. In this piece, I rely on the sense of the pencil facing me, and task my other limbs with following that path, subjected to a particular transformation. The result is a something like a panorama scan of images that are born from the contour of my face but have not been acheived through any attempt at resemblence, instead the focus is on integrated movement, acute attention and body-object sensory relationships.
SCORE:
Starting with left hand leads:
Set 1:
Left hand is parallel to face and begins to trace it from a distance close enough to feel metallic pull of pencil but far enough not to touch it, with an attention to following facial contours.
Right hand performs the same trajectory as left but upside down and backwards, creating a rotated image. These actions are performed on a horizontal plane (paper pad).
Left food performs the same trajectory as left hand without transformation. These actions are performed on a horizontal plane (paper pad).
Set 2:
Left hand is perpendicular to face and begins to trace it from the same distance.
Right hand follows the same trajectory but applied to a vertical plane (paper pad). The result is a portrait contour shifted counter clockwise.
Left foot follows the same trajectory but applied to a vertical plane (paper pad). The result is a portrait contour shifted counter clockwise.
The steps are repeated starting with right hand leads on the opposite side of the drawing table/bike.
From first performance