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| '[dc]circuit 02/Borges', Acrylics, Mixed Media & Paper Collage on Panel, 600 mm x 600 mm, 2026 |
Here's the second in my set of five '[dc]circuit' panels. This one is '[dc]circuit 02/Borges' - offering, as it does, some kind of tribute to the literature of Argentinian author, Jorge Luis Borges. Here the circuit diagram motif, which overlays all five of the '[dc]circuits', becomes entangled with elements of maze-like geometry, which itself emerges from the underlying reconstructed cartography that anchors the set. Further overarching insights can be gleaned from my post about '[dc]circuit 01'.
Labyrinths are, of course, a recurring motif in the short stories of Borges - not least in 'The Garden of Forking Paths' [1.], as referenced in thematically consistent Chinese characters here. Indeed, mazes seem to characterise the intellectual convolutions of his fiction perfectly, with its tendency to fold back into itself in preference to supplying any straightforward narrative conclusions. More directly, they are also analogous to the self-contained (and possibly confounding) complexity of the urban environment. Here, along with references to my own familiar terrain in Leicester, the underlying cartography also relates to Buenes Aires and Geneva - the two cities most closely tied to the author's life.
Clearly, the square format used for this panel differs from the rectangular proportions of its predecessor. Whilst dimensions often correspond across the set, it was never my intention to blindly repeat the same panel format - or even to envisage each piece simply hanging in a level row. In fact, the final arrangement of the set, were they to be exhibited, is one major issue that remains to be settled. In the absence of a convenient empty wall of sufficient size readily to hand, I imagine I'll need to shuffle around some photographic versions - printed at scale, to decide on that. It's quite possible that various alternative arrangements might suggest themselves, rather than a single definitive hang, but there's only one way to find out...
[1.]: Jorge Luis Borges, 'The Garden of Forking Paths', in 'Fictions' (Trans. Andrew Hurley), London/NYC, Penguin, 1941/2000
[Compuesto sin A.I.]
