VARIATIONS:  My Journal

By Mark Philip Stone 

U.S. Patent                   Feb.  11, 1996                      Sheet 2 of 2               5,193,551
Variations – Mark Philip Stone

The VARIATIONS are visual works of art.   This page is included to assist those reading this book or the associated postcards to understand the structure of the piece MY JOURNAL.   One may question whether a patent image is needed to explain this design.   Nonetheless, a picture often saves a lot of explanation.   Each small card hangs, loosely, in its fixed position.   The position is fixed yet the card is free to move, sway, oscillate or jiggle as the forces of nature and surrounding traffic provide such impulses.   Even behind their glass front, these cards will move as someone approaches the piece for a better look.   It seems that slight changes in the static electrical charge carried by the viewer set these cards in subdued motion.   So, while the VARIATIONS pieces are themselves static works, they seem to have mobile tendencies.   A message, image or diary entry is placed on the face of each card.

            This series of seventy-one cards, each one representing a single element from the original award-winning artwork¹ MY JOURNAL² (seen on the cover) from the VARIATIONS³ series by Mark Philip Stone, is offered as an analysis of this complex graphic.   Each page reproduces a hanging card in sequence from the original. The same information, in abbreviated form is also presented as a series of postcards.  Each postcard also contains a small preview of the next hanging card, as a stamp.   In the work MY JOURNAL the cards are arranged and dated as if they were calendar journal entries.   Each day I produced just one card, noting some event or thought of that day.  I will do my best in the space allotted by these pages to explain the life behind each journal entry and the evolution of this single work.

            An artist speaks of art, his art, her art, this work, these works, and living as an expression of unique reflection.

            What is VARIATIONS?   VARIATIONS is a series (note the singular pluralities) of works designed to explain that all existence is and each component of our lives is simply a slight variation on a basic theme.   VARIATIONS is an exploration and at one and the same time an explanation of some of my thoughts and feelings.   It was conceived to be finite and intimate the infinite.
________
1               Washington Square Outdoor Art Exhibit, 2004
2               The first bound journal entry was made June 1, 1976
3               The VARIATIONS series was conceived while spending “A Day in the Field” on August 24, 1992, Les Belles Lettres Series XI –             
            An Autumn Day in the Field, by Mark Pilipski, published by Markov Press, Box 561, Clifton, NJ 07012 (1997)