More Dirty Work At The Crossroads Graphite, ink and collage 59cm x 84Cm
I have been continuing working on my X Marks The Spot series which started at the end of the 50 Collages Before Christmas project I did last year. The last one I posted, X Marks The Spot Where We Buried The Hatchet took the work into the area of conflict, confusion and misdirection, so it is no surprise that I continued the theme when asked to exhibit at The Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum, Woodstock, in Art On Conflict to tie in with Jenny Holzer’s SOFTER installation at Blenheim Palace.
The three pieces here will accompany X Marks The Spot Where We Buried The Hatchet to Woodstock in what I am sure will be a fascinating and provoking exhibition.
Forget Not The Righteous Tsunami Of Hokusai Graphite, acrylic & collage on Snowdon cartridge paper 59cm x 84cm
At Cross Purposes Erased graphite, Magic Tape and acrylic on Snowdon cartridge paper 59cm x 84cm
“Abstract Drawings for Dummies I The Tiny Section of My Soul” Collage, ink, erased graphite, print and acrylic on Snowdon cartridge 59cm x 84cm
This piece, Abstract Drawings For Dummies I: The Tiny Section of My Soul marks the start of two series of work: Abstract Drawings For Dummies and 50 Collages Before Christmas. I had been adding small sections of collage into my erasure and redaction drawings and decided to include text – something I did quite a bit in drawings 45 years ago (including erasing the words and writing what I had done!) and occasionally more recently during my #Collage 365 and #Letter365 projects. I have always had a leaning towards the surreal and absurd with a bit of tongue-in-cheek conceptual thrown in. Influences from cartoons and illustrations, exploded diagrams and information boards, maps and instruction books and much, much more form a lattice of lunacy in my brain. Lay on to this the soft spot I have for Frank Zappa, Bonzo Dog, David Byrne, Laurie Anderson and other slightly odd (and some other decidedly, very odd) music it is not surprising this kind of thing will surface in my work from time to time. The series title Abstract Drawings For Dummies obviously refers to the hugely successful series of “how to” books. The books are, in my experience, well-written and of a high standard and the use of “for dummies” is in no way demeaning or patronising. By using “Dummies” the publishers are signalling to ordinary people they don’t need to feel threatened by experts and that everyone is quite capable of attaining a working knowledge of the subject of the book. Most abstract artists are continually asked to explain what their work is about and during my #Letter365 project where the artwork was sealed unseen into an envelope and sold “blind” I was particularly strongly questioned. At that time I devised a series of works that might help people find a way into art they were not readily comfortable with: works which have instructions, directions and explanations as part of the composition. This new series is planned towards the realisation of that idea. It also features some of the convoluted workings of my brain which had a small opportunity for expression, sometimes quite wittily, on the envelopes of #Letter365.
As I was clearly fired up to do all manner of work I chose the moment of completing this piece to commit to 50 Collages Before Christmas too.
“Abstract Drawings for Dummies I The Tiny Section of My Soul” (detail 2)
Collage, ink, erased graphite, print and acrylic on Snowdon cartridge 59cm x 84cm
“Abstract Drawings for Dummies I The Tiny Section of My Soul” (detail 3)
Collage, ink, erased graphite, print and acrylic on Snowdon cartridge 59cm x 84cm
“Abstract Drawings for Dummies I The Tiny Section of My Soul”
Collage, ink, erased graphite, print and acrylic on Snowdon cartridge 59cm x 84cm
“Abstract Drawings for Dummies I The Tiny Section of My Soul” (detail 1)
Collage, ink, erased graphite, print and acrylic on Snowdon cartridge 59cm x 84cm
“Double Erasure: Winter Field” Multiply erased graphite on Canaletto paper 495mm x 695mm
I am delighted that “Double Erasure: Winter Field” has been shortlisted for the Wells Art Contemporary Awards 2016 and will be on show at The Bishop’s Palace, Wells 8 – 22 October and is already featured on the WAC website
Installation shot of my show with Björk Haraldsdóttir at Portmanteau Gallery, Bridport
The exhibition at the Portmanteau Gallery in Bridport opens today and i am delighted to say it looks beautiful. Björk’s work and mine work together really well and I am really inspired by how, together, we have created a cool, calm and classy atmosphere.
The Portmanteau Gallery will be open between 10am and 4pm only on the following dates: 20, 21, 24 to 29 August 2016. I won’t be at the gallery every day so if you want to catch up with me your best bet will be to visit on Wednesday 24 or Friday 26 through Sunday 28 or call me to arrange a time, or come to the Private View tonight between 5.30 and 7pm
Another installation shot of my show with Björk Haraldsdóttir at Portmanteau Gallery, Bridport
The Portmanteau Gallery is at 10 North Street, Bridport DT6 3JQ on the corner with Rax Lane where there is limited on-road parking as well as the car park. Look out for the yellow ART signs marked “21”, our Bridport Open Studios venue number.
I have been doing more erased drawings and feel there is plenty more that I want to explore in the area of partial deletion, redaction, becoming unseen. So I expect there will be a lot of eraser dust to deal with in the coming weeks. Featured below are a few pieces I have finished recently and am happy with. The first I have called “Double Erasure: Winter Field”. It continues the tidal theme of “Double Erasure – that soft spot in my heart” but connects back to some of my earliest field drawings.
“Double Erasure: Winter Field” Multiply erased graphite on Canaletto paper 495mm x 695mm
The second is a reprise of a piece I did for the secret sale to support Bridport Arts Centre but in larger format. That earlier one was called “We two erased black squares together clinging” so this one is “We two erased black squares together clinging too”
“We two erased black squares together clinging too” Erased pencil on Canaletto paper 302mm x 216mm
I have also been exploring the use of colour with erased drawings, using ink, watercolour and or Inktense pencils over the erased graphite, as can be seen in this detail from “Ashes and embers”
“Ashes and embers” Watercolour and ink on erased graphite on Saunders Waterford paper
The whole thing looks like this:
“Ashes and embers” Watercolour and ink on erased graphite on Saunders Waterford paper 381mm x 559mm
And another similar exploration:
“Otherwise unseen” Watercolour and ink on erased graphite on Saunders Waterford paper 381mm x 559mm
Tissue paper lain over the almost completed double erasure drawing (detail)
I am increasingly interested in the idea of veiling work so the viewer has to work harder to see what they are looking at and have used semi-opaque papers in collages to mute and soften images below. I am considering using etched and frosted glass in front of some pieces, in particular some black square ideas that are 3D or relief pieces. The image above was totally by chance when I covered the erasure drawing I was doing with tissue to protect it till I returned to make any final adjustments. I am certainly tempted to experiment with more veiling, maybe with silk voile or cotton muslin. Perhaps I should go the whole hog and use black perspex or something totally opaque like black-sprayed metal to cover work?
Last year the show I had in Ramsgate was called “The Seen and the Unseen”. That refered partly to #Letter365 being sold unseen but also to the fact that my work is designed to make the eye unsure of what it is actually seeing (amongst other invisible aspects). During the #Letter365 process I had a number of conversations with people who liked the idea of never opening the letters and Schrödinger’s Cat was mentioned on a number of the envelopes and in many conversations.
So much of my work has been inspired by the sea’s marks on the shore and the transient and uncontrollable nature of our existence. It could be said that much of my work is an attempt to freeze a record of those unseen forces at play in the littoral landscape and my mind and emotions. Perhaps my work should move towards even more conceptual and ephemeral work?
For now, I have this piece to finish off. I have not seen it for a few days and other issues may arise when I do, but the biggest question I had when I left it was “how much do I clean up the edges and how big a border”? Of course it still needs a signature, which will, of course, be erased!
How much cleaning up at the edges of this erased drawing should I do?
