A Recent History of Writing And Drawing

My own personal philosophy which I call the 'The Error Principle' or 'The Dynamic Flaw Principle'.

1 A pure circle is static - viewed in the flat.

2 An absolutely pure circle is imperceptible in physical actuality.

3 An offbeat or impure circle is completely conceivable by its readability through its flaws. This in turn is the only preciseness any human mind can fully conceive; abstracts and absolutes cannot be fully realized, one can never know the unknowable - but can conceive the 'essence of'.

4 This leads to the fact that you have to make illusions to get at the truth-essence, or you have to err to be human. We gain knowledge through the imperfect, as in the case of the impure circle: it appears to have a beginning and an end - or there is a part of it that seems to be more dynamic than the remainder. Each part adds up to a unity which results in a comprehension of logic and cause - we embrace the total as known and understood. On the other hand when faced with an absolutely pure circle the eye seems to travel around and round looking for some flaw with which to fix a point of reference before assaulting the total. Finally it gives up and in the intellect the 'idea' of the pure circle is accepted. And without cutting it up or mutilating it there is nothing more one can about it as a total. When there is nothing to grasp there can be no perception - absolutes are final by definition, and thus seemingly dead.

Bob Law, The Necessity for Magic in Art, 1964

www.artistboblaw.org.uk