The Drawing Machine
A love of letters from history led me to become a research fellow at the Getty where original letters were as beautiful as artworks. Reading early American history I came across the machine of Thomas Jefferson. He wrote his letters in duplicate on his “polygraph”. A contemporary reimagined machine was designed and built for me by John Biggs. Writing has become an act of drawing. I now write and draw in duplicate. I do performances where the audience performs text. I make improvisational writings and drawings to their readings. Many observe. The reader takes one of the drawings and I keep the other.