As I was finishing up the framing for the group of work I had recently completed and would be delivering in the next few days, I came to the last piece, 4 Windows, shown here. I realized that I hadn’t yet addressed the question posed to me a week or so back when I posted this painting on this blog. I had been asked how I would sign a group of small pieces– each piece individually or a single signature that blankets all four pieces?
I had always signed the pieces individually when I had done this sort of piece in the past so I thought I might simply go that route. But the question really made me think about my concerns about keeping this as it was, as a single piece rather than one that could be taken apart and made into 4 smaller individual paintings. I know that should not be my concern, that once the painting leaves my possession I have no control over how someone treats it. They could smash them, burn them, paint over them and there is nothing I can do. But that doesn’t mean I can’t somehow signal my intent for the piece, that I desire that this work stays as it is, intact.
This being the case, I decided that one signature that somehow bonded the 4 pieces together would be some sort of solution. This way there would be no signatures, save one, if somone decided to separate the paintings. I wanted it to be distinctive though, something that differed from my standard signature and signified my intent.
I decided to go with a signature in the bottom right corner of the bottom right piece in the group. It would be like my normal signature except that I would add the number 4 through the bottom of the line that normally encircles my name. That number would designate the number of pieces in the group. In the future, I can use this same method for signing similar pieces. Maybe that will keep these paintings intact through time, as I originally saw them. It might not be perfect but it works for me.
