Autograph, like a similar work, Self-Portrait, is a work I began in 2011 with no end-date planned. It is interactive, and like Self-Portrait, it requires a lot of contact with friends and strangers and allows me to create work that is not just "personal." I do the action which the work suggests, not the actual creation of the object. That comes with the help of many of the people I meet.
The act of asking for an autograph requires humility and, at first, elevates the signer. After these autographs are signed, one over the other, the names start to disappear into a larger "signature," or a larger form of humility.
They start out as this:
A number of autographs more and they start to fill in:
And many, many autographs later, singular autographs are not distinguishable, although they still remain.
The other aspect is personal. I sign the same sheet of paper in the same spot, adding my autograph. Doing this over a long period of time represents different versions of my self, and as it does, my recognizable name starts to disappear.
I should briefly mention and say that these works were inspired by a much earlier work of mine, entitled, Work I Should Have Done, which I signed my name hundreds of times in the same spot, at the same time. The title speaks rather loudly to my self-deprecation at that time, but one that I eventually replaced.
The new page, Autographs, includes four pieces of the newer version of this work in progress that I call Autograph. I hope to expand these few sheets to eight.