Inspired by the challenge of producing a new body of work for an exhibition this June, I have been down the artistic rabbit hole of exploration and play with imagery and materials.
Of other Spaces vi
This time of exploration has resulted in the production of 3 groups of work, mainly using print, collage and stitch, but also that pay homage to that first research stage of photographing and drawing.
This work (3 groups) is titled Of other Spaces, Negotiable spaces and Edgelands. and although they are inspired by photos and drawings that I collected, from actual places, I haven’t been particularly concerned to stay faithful to the original viewpoints and composition.
They have evolved gradually, been printed, painted, assembled and stitched then perhaps re stitched and reassembled. It’s inevitable that a kind of relationship develops with the work as I try to explore how to resolve the piece.
It has been a positive time of making new plates, trying out colour and technique and seeing how far I could take the processes. My favourite question when I am making is ‘what if’
One of my favourite processes currently is Photo Litho. This uses a laser paper copy that then gets soaked in water before being inked up and printed from. Provided the paper image does not get damaged you can potentially use this paper copy over and over to create bold lasting printed images.
For the group of work Titled Of Other Spaces I specifically wanted to try out ways to edit and manipulate the photographic image before the laser copy was created. For this reason, I painted onto the photos and created collages from them before I took them to the library to get the copies.
Its been an interesting journey developing this work and I confess to being a little ‘at sea’ now that I have come to a sort of conclusion and resolved stage with them.
A selected group of 8 framed prints is currently on show at the Box Gallery in Southsea.
These have been beautifully framed by Geoff Catlow who operates a small framing service out of Tango Tea, in Southsea.
The Box Gallery Anniversary show started Friday 18th April -
The gallery is open Thursday to Sunday 11 - 4 / and the show will last approx 6 weeks
A larger selection of this body of work will be part of the State of Flux Exhibition at The Horsebridge Arts Centre in Whitstable this June. This is a group exhibition, also featuring the work of Sinclair Ashman, Sarah Mander, Kay Senior and Consuelo Simpson.who have all produced new work specifically for this exhibition
Edgelands