Untitled (Polythene action drawing I), Acrylic paint on polythene sheeting, 310x200cm
For these drawings I used an alternative tool, a paintbrush on a dowel rod, to give physical distance between my body and the surface, and allow for a less controlled line to be expressed.
In painting, my experience is one that is viewed intimately, often with only a few inches between eyes and painted surface, or mixing pot. Whereas in these larger expressive drawings there is a physical distance, yet the process is still completely connected. The physicality of moving around the space, having to reach and bend to create marks, connects me to my subject matter and my experience.
These large drawings, in similar dimensions to my large painting, act both as works in their own right and as research tools for mapping out forms and determining compositions.
In a similar way to my drawing process, Brice Marden used long handled brushes to give himself a certain distance from the surface to create his paintings in his ‘Cold Mountain’ series of the mid 1980s. Influenced by Chinese calligraphy and Zen nature poems, Marden constructed an energetic and dynamic space from line. Marden’s evocation of nature through the reading of poetry, particularly the Cold Mountain poems by Han Shan of 700 AD, aligns with my research of looking back to Nan Shepherd’s poetic prose as inspiration.
Brice Marden, Cold Mountain 6 (Bridge), oil on linen, 274x365cm, 1989-1991.
Untitled (Polythene drawing III), Acrylic paint on polythene sheeting, 310x200cm.