earlier works

I have long been interested in the relationship between moving and still pictures, filmic screens and solid objects, hand-drawn and photographic imagery, and serial mark-making.

White Noise 3:4

36 screens

White Noise 3:4 is the first in a set of three made in 2002 using permanent marker on boards where dots from the marker tip traversed the board in rows from top to bottom and left to right – imitating the point of light in an analogue cathode-ray tube.  I wanted to make some 'white noise' by hand and to see if an image emerged if I kept on working until the marker ran out before picking up a fresh one. 

36 screens is an assembly of 36 individual drawings on boards made in a similar way but with vertical strokes over a horizontally brushed surface (cross-hatching), rather than dots (pixels) on a smooth one.

None of these images provided a ready image or story of course, and  clearly there were no 'play' buttons to get things going.  However, the imagery had narrative potential I felt, so I went on to explore the method.  And some stories.



See studio & narrative drawing galleries

top: white noise 3:4: permanent marker on gesso / 180 x 150 x 5 cm
bottom: 36 screens; each – felt tip pen on gesso / total installation size 180 x 150 x 5cm //

"Timelines" // detail "timeline no 1" // at Illuminations exhibition, Paintworks, Bristol 2006

Timelines was a piece of work made from inexpensive and ready-to-hand materials:

I used 3 x 8m lengths of 1 metre-wide dressmaking lining material, markers of various sorts (biros, permanent markers, writing & drawing inks) as well as selotape, cotton thread etc.

I wanted to think about my own history, and in some wider historical contexts.

Timeline 1 was serial rows of dots made across the material – a slow process (3 lines of dots took 1/2 hour).  I left a  margin at either side – for notes on one side and a rudimentary sort of 'timecode' (time spent working) on the other.

Timelines 2 & 3 investigated some histories: texts repeatedly written and washed off (timeline 2); meanderings in dribbled ink (I love Jackson Pollock) and in stitch – courtesy of my old Singer sewing machine (timeline 3). 

The Timelines were shown as an installation in a show entitled Illuminations at Paintworks, Bristol in 2006.  The works have since been lost.  I am revisiting the ideas and materials used.

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