Burnt Parchment, Denis Brown ,1992

What happens when you burn vellum skin? You perceive the transformation of a flat sheet into a sculptural relief- and rigid lines of text free themselves into natural undulations.

Here my destructive impulse is a reaction against traditions, (religious as well as calligraphic traditions which then seemed to constrain, even while guiding me). I carefully crafted pages of biblical text in Insular styles, before subjecting them to ritual burnings.

Crucially, this destruction is not mere self indulgence, but yields new creative form and meaning.

Phoenix, Burned vellum, with copper wires. Denis Brown, 1993

©2007 Denis Brown  |  www.quillskill.com