The Split Commentary Revisited series continues into the upcoming new year, reaching its conclusion soon – two double-sided pieces left to go and then the series will be completed – time to move on! Below is the group in its entirety so far:
To recap the history of this project: these forms first emerged from the Big Series of 2009 – 2011 which can be seen in its entirety here. A project based on eight forms, spanning two years and two continents, the Big Series explored, played with and expounded upon those eight forms in a total of 24 unique suites in many different media.
One such suite, Commentary and Form: Split Commentaries, was based on re-assemblages of the Big Paintings suite (here). Each of the eight Commentary and Form shapes was created by joining the two outer panels of each of the large triptych paintings while leaving the painting’s center panel standing aside (here). Remarkably, the bones of each painting’s structure were to be found in the joined outer two panels, while the single middle panel was filled with small symbol-like shapes; hence the name. Each of the new re-assembled diptychs was then traced, creating a new form.
These Form without Commentary Tracings (here) were further developed to become the basis for several subsequent variant works in the Big Series, but the eight traced diptych extractions themselves were not yet fully used as envisioned.
With the Ünneptelenül (here) pieces of 2019, work on this concept resumed, following a newer focus on writing as mark-making. Further development of that variant series however, was suddently halted by circumstance after the first two pieces. The tracings of the Split Commentary Forms were set aside until they were revisited from a new perspective in the Split Commentary Revisited I – 3 and Mirrored Test/Tükrözött Teszt, before once again circumstances caused a pause in the work. Now the rest of the Split Commentary Revisited series is nearly finished, and can be seen above.
Diane Sophrin 