Cuttings

1961

36.6 x 17.3 x 1.2 cm.

Sawn and painted perspex.

“Cuttings were a development of my first experiments with clear acrylic, Fire Lines. In these early works with plastic, I used fire to draw with molten plastic and, noticing that the fine lines cast shadows which changed position when looked at from another angle, I began to research the interactions between light and what we see. Cuttings represent my first attempt to generate an energetic vibration through the use of repetitive elements. 

Cuttings  are negative reliefs. The slices of saw-blade cuts made in a clear Perspex sheet are perceived as solid relief casting shadows on the back surface of the sheet, whereas the solid uncut area of the sheet is perceived as empty. The original concern of these early works was the interchangeability of opposites, i.e. that negative and positive were so close as to be indistinguishable. ” – Liliane Lijn