Testing, speculating and exploring Nothing

To enter into the spirit of this induction task I quickly involved myself with making a series of small samples on the theme of nothing using a range of materials and processes, some of which were unfamiliar to me, taking me outside of my usual ways of working. My focus on value and the negative connotation the word 'nothing' suggested to me, led me to making collages using scrap materials echoing the impetus employed by Kurt Schwitters. This thrown away detritus had no value but once this material becomes considered, combined and composed, it transforms into something of value. The new reality of the combined fragments is as Schwitters' "Merz". The chaos of the assembled material is quietened by the erasing of colour value. White smothers the surface to unify the disparate pieces. 

Schwitters is most famous for his abstract collages which he began to make in the winter of 1918/19 using found and everyday objects such as labels, bus tickets, fabric and bits of broken wood. They were born out of his post-war feeling: ‘Everything had broken down and new things had to be made out of the fragments; and this is Merz.’

 https://abstractcritical.com/note/kurt-schwitters-collages-and-assemblages-1920-1947/index.html