Broken and glazed porcelain with ink mounted on board
Context
Credit Line: Purchased by the Canton Museum of Art
Made/Created
Artist
Jim Melchert
Date made
2011
Dimensions
Dimension Description
Object Size
Height
17-1/2 in
Width
52-1/2 in
Depth
2 in
Interpretative Labels
Label
"Black Brown Black" is one piece from a series that Melchert made called "Piano Scores for David Tudor" from 2011-2013. Musician and composer David Tudor, whom Melchert admired for several years and then met while in Rome, was the inspiration for the series. The pieces from this series also suggest the relationship between black and white piano keys, not surprising since Melchert was raised in a musical home and was adept at piano.
Chance played an important role in the creation of this series; Melchert would spin a plastic ruler on each fragment and draw its two parallel edges where it stopped moving. The sidewalk just outside his studio is where he drops and cracks commercial tiles, knowing which abruption will cause a spider crack, radiating fan, or elegant arc. Melchert once said: "Opening a tile is like entering a hidden place."
