John Clell Morris Artist & Educator
The Telepathy Drawings with Christina Ayala
Begun in 2005, The Telepathy Drawings consists of artists Christina Ayala and John Morris, sitting down to transmit and record telepathic messages. The process begins when John sits on one side of a table with Christina across from him. Each session lasts for seven minutes, during which time John transmits a singular thought for example “Diesel Power” to Christina. At some point along the transmission Christina, working with pen and colored pencils, receives and transcribes the message through drawing. In addition to the image created by Christina, John records the complete duration of the seven-minute session with a large format camera. The photographs stand along with the drawing as a document of the collaboration.
The project explores and confronts the junction of meaning and belief, and its relation to the collaborative nature in art making and viewing. In addition to the presentation of their work in the Gallery Space, Ayala and Morris install a Telepathy Station where they invite the Gallery visitors to sit down and create their own Telepathic Drawings with hopes that the audience will participate, adding their own voice to the ongoing collaboration and dialogue.