The Painting Mantra: a Liberating Sameness

Like a Broken Record

Back in the old days of technology I learned how to splice magnetic tape end to end to create an endless tape loop. A tape loop only repeats. The message is always the same.

Back in the old days of technology I learned how to splice magnetic tape end to end to create an endless tape loop. A tape loop only repeats. The message is often the same.

No. The message is always the same.

Sometimes it is necessary to repeat to get a point across. Sometimes repetition is a weapon or a mantra. A mantra is anything but a weapon.

In those old days when tape loops were new to me, they seemed a fresh experience, hypnotic, white noise that could create a sound texture, something like a curtain or screen to filter out the world.

When I work in my studio, I am alone with my brushes and colors, cut off from the world by a wall of sound. I hit the repeat button and no distracting thoughts or sounds interrupt my concentration.

A visitor to my studio may find the repetitious audio distracting. So, out of respect I turn it off. It is unnecessary if I’m not painting.

This sound of a tape loop or broken record as I work in the studio is merely a liberating and useful tool, not unlike painting with the lights on.

To paraphrase John Cage; if after two minutes you find something boring, try it four minutes, eight minutes, sixteen, eventually you will be able to pick up the paint brush.

Another might hear a broken record where there is for me a painting mantra.

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