1994 - 1995
SIGNETIC DRAWING – In 1994, Michael Riedel designed a signet with which to sign his artworks. Owing to the fact that, at the age of twenty-two, he did not yet have any appreciable works of art to show for himself, the signet had no function to fulfill. However, it functions as a designation of non-existing artworks, which it marks as blank spaces. Taking this state of possibility as a point of departure, the artist executed a work that realizes the designation of the work as the work itself – the Signetic Drawing.
The work complex, which consists of nearly a thousand drawings in the form of 61 sheets, 36 wax books, numerous ancillary drawings and blank material, is a work synthesis that, composed of operations, offers the theoretical possibility of the endless drawing of drawings. With the signet as their starting point, the drawings are based on the interplay between a view from above and four respective views of the structural body. As a process of self-creation, the autopoeisis that takes place here consists in every view potentially being capable of being perceived as a view from above, from which further views can be drawn, which then, perceived as views from above, are the basis for new views, and so forth. The individual steps of the self-reproducing forms trigger an autodynamic process that confronts the viewers – of which the artist is one – with an overwhelming supply of forms.
The question arises as to how the process will continue. The fact that it will continue is guaranteed by the as-yet-undrawn drawings in the form of blank sheets, which are likewise a part of the work. They bring about the operative conclusion of the Signetic Drawing system. In that the undrawn drawings are included, a potentially possible work is realized.
Download the exhibition catalogue as a PDF file: SIGNETISCHE ZEICHNUNG 1994–95 (2019)
Photocopy
63.4 × 88.5 cm
Signet, 1994
Ink, stamping ink and gold paint on vellum paper
20.9 × 29.7 cm
Translation of the Signet, 1994
Pencil and ink on vellum paper
20.9 × 29.7 cm
Reduction of the Translation of the Signet, 1994
pencil and ink on vellum paper
20.9 × 29.7 cm
Untitled (Progression), 1995
Ink and watercolor on transparent paper
21 × 29.5 cm
Untitled (Progression), 1995
Pencil and ink on photocopy
21 × 29.7 cm
Reduction of the Translation of the Signet (copy), A (copy), B (copy), C (copy), D (copy), 1995
photocopies
D, 1995
Pencil, ink and stamping ink on vellum paper, adhesive tape
59.5 × 21 cm
A, 1995
Pencil, ink and stamping ink on vellum paper, adhesive tape
59.5 × 20.9 cm
C, 1995
Pencil, ink and stamping ink on vellum paper, adhesive tape
59.5 × 21 cm
B, 1995
Pencil, ink and stamping ink on vellum paper, adhesive tape
59.5 × 21 cm
D (wax book), 1995
Ink and stamping ink on roll paper (waxed), photocopy on roll paper, cardboard, sewn binding
65.2 × 24.3 cm, 28 pages
A (wax book), 1995
Ink and stamping ink on roll paper (waxed), photocopy on roll paper, cardboard, sewn binding
24.3 × 65.2 cm, 26 pages
C (wax book), 1995
Ink and stamping ink on roll paper (waxed), photocopy on roll paper, cardboard, sewn binding
65.5 × 24.3 cm, 28 pages
B (wax book), 1995
Ink and stamping ink on roll paper (waxed), photocopy on roll paper, cardboard, sewn binding
65.6 × 24.3 cm, 26 pages
