Meownica Studio

Plotscapes
2021

One of my areas of interest in art is the process of making something -- the rules and inconveniences that directly affect and restrict the shape that an art can take. In this project I tried to play with this instinct we have as artists of insert ourselves into a process (by "fixing things in post", basically), and embracing the faulty medium instead. The medium, in this case, was a pen plotter: a little robot with a moveable arm, that can hold a pen and apply pressure, thus being able to make marks on paper. Nothing in the process is perfect, from the consumable pens to the random acts of rebellion from the robot itself. I wanted to generate very geometric and robotic landscapes using code, and then bring them to life using different papers and mark-making tools, in an attempt to make them "feel" more human.

One of the initial randomly generated landscapes

One of the initial randomly generated landscapes



Experimenting with reflections and non-rectangles

Experimenting with reflections and non-rectangles

One of the landscapes printed on a rainbow scratch paper. The plotter robot was holding a sharp pointy wooden stick

One of the landscapes printed on a rainbow scratch paper. The plotter robot was holding a sharp pointy wooden stick

White and gold gel pens on a handmade paper. The paper is handmade (not by me) from recycled cotton tshirts!

White and gold gel pens on a handmade paper. The paper is handmade (not by me) from recycled cotton tshirts!

A process video of the plotter printing on one of the blue papers using a fat and soft watercolour pencil. You can see that it’s not a give-it-and-leave-it sort of setup. I keep interrupting it because the pencil gets used unevenly, and needs to be rotated to make a sharper mark.