Drawing titled "No.1: The crux diss…" by Wilf Tilley, Original Artwork, Ink

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No.1: The crux dissimulata or the stupefaction of numbers (1977) Drawing by Wilf Tilley

Original

Not For Sale

Seller Wilf Tilley

Original Artwork (One Of A Kind) Drawing, Ink / Oil on Paper

Artworks classification

One of a kind (OOAK / Original Artwork)

One-of-a-kind works of art are also known as “OOAK” artworks. This means that every work of art is unique and there will never be another identical one.
Dimensions Height 11.8in, Width 7.9in
Artwork's condition The artwork is in very good condition
Framing This artwork is not framed
Categories Conceptual Art Religion

Number 1 of 3 pages from an early work blending the Fibonacci sequence with symbols of various belief systems. The sequence, beginning 1-1-2-3, is accompanied by the symbolic animal names in Christianity of the four evangelists: Matthew, the winged man (Homo), Mark, the winged lion (Leo), Luke, the winged ox (Vitulus) and John, the eagle (Aquila) combined with a Greek Cross. The second page continues the Fibonacci sequence, 5-8-13-21, accompanied by a Christian cross and the Japanese manji or swastika, a symbol of Buddhism. The third page, 34-55-89-144, shows both the Christian cross and the hammer and sickle, symbol of communism. How this all fits together is unclear. However, the subtitle, The Stupefaction of numbers, echoes Karl Marx' notorious, metaphorical description of religion as "das Opium des Volkes". The title may suggest that an over-reliance on numerical reasoning may itself be a stupefactive. All a bit uncertain. Interestingly the Fibonacci sequence has applications in fields as diverse as biology (3D structure of the DNA molecule, for example) and relative stock pricing (Fibonacci retracement). Number symbols per se have no inherent meaning. (Rapidograph pen and color on oiled, graph paper, signed and stamped recto (LR), the AOY catalog numbers are a later addition.

About this artwork: Classification, Techniques & Styles

Ink

A strongly tinted liquid or paste that is used to mark paper or other printable materials. The design is done manually with a slab, feather, brush, or straightener.

Oil

Paint consisting of pigments bound with linseed oil or carnations. The traditional technique consists of superimposing layers of paint increasingly rich in oil for a solid and durable hanger.

Technic Drawing

Drawing is a technique of visual representation on a flat support. The term "drawing" designates both the action of drawing, the resulting graphic work, and the shape of any object. It is also a representation on a surface of the shape (and possibly the light and shadow values) of an object or figure, rather than their color. There are a large number of drawing techniques: “Linear drawing” represents objects by their outlines, edges and some characteristic lines; beyond this limit, the drawing develops by representing the volume by shadows, often by means of hatching, incorporates colors, and joins, without clear transition, the painting.

Wilf Tilley

Japan

Wilf Tilley (Prof. Michael W. Miller) was born in the North of England and began his career as an actor, age 16, with the National Youth Theatre at The Old Vic in a production of Antony and Cleopatra in which Helen Mirren played Cleopatra and he carried a spear. “Wilf Tilley” (a combination of parental names) was part-adopted for a first solo exhibition at the AIR Gallery, London, when he was 27. Following an MA degree at the Royal College of Art, London, an interest in the neuro-anatomical drawings of Leonardo da Vinci led, via the Open University, to research on neuronal modelling in the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics in the University of Oxford. He was a Fellow of St. Catherine's College, Oxford, and after a two-year Fellowship in the International Center for Medical Research, Kobe, was a founder member, then senior adviser at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute, where he designed a brain science exploratorium (BrainBox). Wilf has held eight solo exhibitions, participated in group exhibitions internationally, and held a first retrospective in Japan (The Neuro-mytheologian And Other Works), in 2003. A novel (The Ladyboy Murders) was shortlisted for the Impress Prize for New Writers in 2015. In November/December 2017, he held a second retrospective at the Frederick Harris Gallery, Tokyo. And a recent portrait (Manami-san) is part of the New Light Art Prize Exhibition in the UK, touring five galleries nationally (2023-2024).