Fixed Medium is a self portrait that I created for my RISD admissions application using a bicycle and a Garmin, GPS cycling computer. The prompt asked for applicants to: “create a drawing instrument. Make a drawing with the instrument you have created. You may use graphite, pencil or any dry (fixable) medium, a water-based medium (such as ink, watercolor or gouache) or a combination.
As an avid cyclist, advocate for urban cycling / commuting and lover of wordplay, I decided to build a fixed gear bicycle (a bicycle that has one gear that doesn’t have a freewheel… so you can’t coast) to draw myself using the roads, paths and streets that I grew up riding.
Fixed Medium represents the strong relationship that I have for my bicycle and Denver and how a bicycle has allowed me to experience so many cities around the world more thoroughly and intimately than I would have otherwise in a car or on foot, shaping who I am today.
For this piece, I built up a Cinelli MASH Parallax fixed gear track bike. I used a photo of myself and lowered the transparency to put over a map of Denver to match the streets to my facial features. This was a lot harder than I thought it would be. After I found the perfect fit, I went about mapping the ride turn-by-turn. While I could have uploaded the ride to my Garmin and follow the turn-by-turn directions, I decided to write each turn down on a flash card. This made me be extra vigilant and present.
I decided to go out on a Sunday morning in early March, figuring that people wouldn’t be out and about until much later. It turned out to be a great day (~ 50 degrees F and sunny) and an even better ride.
After I completed the ride, I uploaded the GPS data to the social fitness network website, Strava. I showed my family friend, an architect, and she said that “they [RISD] are either going to love it or they’re going to hate it.” I print out a high-quality photo of my drawing, put it in the mail and sent it off to Rhode Island. A month later, I received good news.
