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| Earlier watercolour block drawings, standard A4 paper size |
Return to Consciousness is the theme for this years painting referencing the changing state of being as we emerge from the lockdown times of 2020. Whilst actual movement in terms of international travel was initially slow and the opening of galleries museums and society in general only fully realised in May, there remained a sense of returning to a state of heightened awareness or at least, an optimistic anticipation of a revised state of being.
Drawing remains integral to my process and in some ways because of the flexible and facilitated approach and experimental order of making, ideas are moved through in a concentrated and fast way. I spent some time at the Dubuffet exhibition at the Barbican Centre in April. The visits there enabled reflection on my relationship with Dubuffets work, partly from the Jeu de Pomme Paris Retrospective in the 1990s (the reopening inaugural show of the gallery) and before this in Aftermath, Paris Post War, the inaugural show at the Barbican Art Gallery in 1982, when I was a student just finishing Foundation Art at High Wycombe (I have the catalogue). Dubuffets concept of non-place reverberates with my work at the current time being in part a deconstruction of established modes of making but also referencing the placements in international locations and integral exploration of Place.
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| Early series drawings, some colour. |
Early stage drawings, several layers, standard paper size watercolour block
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| detail |
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| detail |
I have increased the board size making two new support boards of plywood for floor working. The increased dimension is facilitated by Fabriano roll paper; quite difficult to stretch but giving a custom bespoke size. The large vertical drawing boards are 1221 x 2442 cm.
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| First stage group view August 2021 |
Whilst making these later drawings the larger boards, I recalled a quote by Malcolm Morley in a film interview when he talked about losing the image. If you are going to lose it then lose it he says. I always think of this when I am not sure if to go on; we think we might lose something but something else comes from the deconstruction or construction.
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| First stage |
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| Second reworking over these drawings produces intricate complexity and criss crossing line. |
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First stage on larger drawing boards, stretched fabriano.
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