Tire print for the BMC Conference
Early October brings the 16th editi0n of ReVIEWing BMC, the annual conference I have attended since 2009. I will attend sessions conducted by BMC friends, old and new, and surely learn many new things and meet some wonderful people. I always bring a printed hand-laid paper item to give away. This year it was my great joy to print a tire 100 times! John Cage and Robert Rauschenberg made Automobile Tire Print in 1953, with Cage running the inked wheel of his Model A over a 20 ft strip of paper. I printed 60 feet, 9 inches at a time. Each is quite different on close inspection, illuminating a primary John Cage principle.
Setting up this unique printing job took some thinking. I jammed a rebar in a spare tire for our farm cart and taped it in place, with marks for determining a full rotation when inking. When the tire was heavily inked in its suspension rack, I placed the paper, covered with a tympan, and picked up each end of the metal axle to roll it heavily down the double thick sheet of rag paper. I could usually do about fifteen in a single taxing session. But it was so much fun to enact, in my own way, the art action I wanted to commemorate.
This wonderful book educated me about the original tire print
raleighrambles.com
portrait by Guillermo Velasco
Raleigh Rambles 