Deliberate Marks and Natural Cracks in Flux

Flux’s formal record states that deliberate marks coexist with naturally occurring cracks. That distinction in making differs from whether a viewer can identify the origin of each trace by sight. A line in a photograph cannot automatically be attributed to intervention or ageing.^[1]

A condition record can separate observations of a crack’s position, length and opening from an account of its cause. Recording form and location allows subsequent comparison even where the cause remains unknown.

Chapter 13 of the Forest Products Laboratory’s Wood Handbook discusses shrinkage and drying stresses as factors in surface checks and internal cracks. Such fractures involve the interaction of material properties and drying conditions, rather than the passage of time alone.^[2]

This is a general reference on wood, not an identification of the humidity, process or moment responsible for an individual crack in Flux. Applying material knowledge requires a distinction between general causes and a documented history of the particular work.

Hekikan brings coating to panels bearing traces of use and repair. Flux combines deliberate marks with natural cracks. Describing an old surface simply as traces of time does not distinguish use, making and later change.^[1][3]

For comparisons before and after display, a photograph needs an identifiable recording date. Existing traces within the work and newly observed changes can then be examined against its construction and condition history rather than treated as equivalent damage.

Appearance alone cannot establish that a long crack is older than a short one. Equating a mark’s size with elapsed time obscures material conditions and making interventions. Nor do the number and length of marks in Flux measure the intensity of the artist’s experience. The visible trace and an account of its meaning remain distinct.

Temporal records are still necessary for comparing change. Recording the same location at different moments can establish what changed without determining its cause. The distinction between treating a mark as a fixed sign and observing a material state that may continue to change remains relevant after production.