Walter Gabrielson Painter

The Joy of Making Marks
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For years I have surrounded by the mark making crowd.  Not being a mark maker myself, I have been somewhat curious of what constitutes this business, and to wit, I have now come to some conclusions.

As I understand it, making marks is the act of some visual artists to execute on a two dimensional surface various forms of marks, like dots, dashes, lines, dapples, scribbles, scrawls and splotches, speckles, mottles and so forth.  Some attention is paid to the frequency, spacing, direction, size and shpe of these marks, but that's pretty much it.

Now to the crux of the matter.  We have people spending serious time making all these marks and subsequently showing them off to their friends and the public.  We know there is no desire for the mark makers to allude to the least to the real world, or for them to illustrate life or indicate any connection to human endeavors other than the ability to stand before a canvas or paper and go on making interminal marks until the cows come home.

We are therefore instructed to enjoy these marks all by themselves, graphic orphans swimming about in great gobs of space.  Happy marks, frantic marks, constipated marks, organized marks, freefalling marks, subtle marks, sensuous marks, uneducated marks.  It is a boundless bounty of marks that confront us.  Evidently there is a vast industry and appreciation  for the marks too, there are schools teaching the finer points of mark making ["carefull now, don't destroy the elegance and integrity of that beautiful mark"], writers who approve of and grant wonderful kudos to exceptional mark makers, collectors who give up vast sums to posess these marks, historians who sigh and swoon over marks and get PHD's alluding to their significance.

So, if one is at a loss for a good time, or something to enjoy in the company of a delicious libation I could recommend a session with marks.  Take your choice from the multitude of marks out there: marks for the soul, marks for the planet, the universe, marks around the clock, Karl Marx, the Marx brothers, marksmen, earmarks, postmarks, hallmarks.  Mark my words, you will have fun with this.

 
 
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