FROT
TAGE
FOLIO
Jason Blasso
FROT
TAGE
FOLIO
C H A RY B D I S P R E S S new york
Published by Charybdis Press New York © 2014 Charybdis Press All rights reserved Printed and bound in the USA 15 14 13 12 4 3 2 1 First Edition Some rights reserved http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Image Copyright © 2014 Jason Blasso Text Copyright © 2014 Jason Blasso Layout & Design: Jason Blasso For more information please visit www.blackgesso.com www.charybdispress.com
for Niall
Niall, the second face of JaNus, suggested we use frottage for our first collaboration. He had been developing his own technique and theory. Mine has been a study of the intimate spaces of home and work which draw me, literally, into what Perec called the infraordinary. It is on this plane that I’ve been approaching novel and familiar surfaces to see what they reveal about the quotidian spaces I inhabit. Each surface reacts differently to the technique. Through it, I learn about the materials, spaces and my presence as each stroke closes the loop of intimacy between the trinity of surface, paper and self. The paper becomes the medium for the face of the surface to reveal itself to me, through the pressure of the charcoal, I reveal myself to it. Through touch I reveal and am revealed. This both masks and unmasks the familiar. It shows what I know to be there on the surface but also reveals hidden depths that couldn’t be seen before. The act of frottage is a way of examining the blind spaces within surfaces. The technique reveals what is overlooked: That the sighted have eyes that seldom see.
Jason Blasso
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C H A RY B D I S P R E S S new york