Hardesty was enthralled with the visual/conceptual potential
of technical media. In this idea, a recorded "painting",
the simple white ground had just two elements; a red plastic
container of magnetic audiotape trailing down to stenciled words
like, Picture, Error, Restate, End Program, the words recorded
on the dangling tape.
Hardesty now says, "No one got it. I loved Rauchenberg's
steciled letters, as a design element, but it's a bad fit here.
I should have just eliminated the painted words altogether, attached
a pick-up on a wire, that was attached to an amp and speaker,
attached those to the painting. Then let people 'play back' my
painting by passing the pick-up over the audio tape...better,
simpler, clearer, more fun. Then, any actual painting I did could
work as a counterpoint."
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