BRIDGE OF SIGHS

Robin's second album, and I think, his best album of the period. A real rock classic. It's also the best image I've ever created because it is a 2-D rendering of the three dimensional expression of the uniquely 2-D/3-D mobius, which is an elegant mathematical and physical concept. I simply wondered what a 3-dimensional mobius would look like, so I took some modelling clay ("plasticine" in England) and modeled the form, then painted what I made in clay! If you don't know what a mobius is, take a 1" wide piece of paper 10" long and make a loop out of it, like you are making a daisy chain...but just before you paste or tape the ends together, give one of them a 180 degree half twist and then paste the ends together. You now have a mobius, and if you run a continuous pencil line along the length of the strip, you will soon come back to your starting point, having just done the impossible: drawing a continuous line on both sides of a 2-dimensional surface!

comp for cover

The mobius has all sorts of wonderful ramifications in trying to come to grips with space-time.

I made three attempts at this 36" square painting, because I had to do it all in one go as there are no "hard" lines I could paint to...it all had to be blended into itself, and the oils wouldn't stay fluid long enough through the constant blending, which mixed air into the paint, thickening it up before I could finish. Adding medium and linseed oil was only partially effective.

I stayed up 42 hours straight to finally complete it before the paint started setting. I remember taking a break at 5am and going into the back garden to sit and clear my head, watch the sun come up, and maybe see my two wild rabbits who lived in a burrough in the middle of the lawn. I saw 6 baby ones peer out of the burrough I never even knew were there! The garden flat was at 18 Elm Grove Road, Barnes, and has been reconverted into a house. I had a wonderful time there during a fantastic period to be living in England.

This is the original painting...it was turned sideways by mistake in production. The original was purchased by Chris Wright, owner of Chrysalis Records, and is now on display in Chrysalis' offices in Shepherd's Bush.

back