Gillian Lock-Bowen, Harwich Mindmap 1, paper, drafting film, acetate, ink, pencil, 50 x 70 cm
Crossing Lines, June-July, 2020, Harwich
This exhibition is being developed specifically for the Harwich Mayflower Festival 2020. Its theme: Movement and Migration is inspired by the 400th anniversary of The Mayflower’s historic voyage to America and its connections to Harwich.
My contribution to the Crossing-Lines exhibition will take the form of 2D and 3D drawings, an interconnected video and soundscape and possibly paintings. The work will be exhibited with interrelated art works developed by three other artists.
After an initial meeting to exchange ideas about the exhibition space and its content, we continue to share ideas about our work as it develops. However, each artist has interpreted the theme of the exhibition in their own way using diverse approaches, processes and materials.
I am particularly interested in the human and digital interconnections of life in the 21st Century.
Gillian Lock-Bowen, Migration 1, oil, canvas, 70 x 100 cm, 2020
My drawings relate to: human upheaval and mobility; hard and permeable borders; cross-border data flow; and the complex web of global priorities and imperatives such as goods, buildings, health and security.
In response to the complexities of life in the 21st Century, I am developing layering techniques in my 2D drawings so that lines and marks drawn on a back or foregrounds, perform a dialogue between dissonant voices or rhythms in other drawings.
In the Crossing-Lines drawings, I am largely using black and white inks and paints. Mixing black and white together creates a movement of shade in the drawings which contributes to a visual rhythm and opens-up additional visual pathways through the drawings. However, to create the occasional fracture, I will use metalized paint and violet and red ink.
My 3D drawings are constructed from of layers of pathways, or charts, which work on horizontal and vertical axes but together with their shadow images, combine in labyrinthine networks of material and light.
The layers are interchangeable; therefore, they can be configured, and reconfigured, to establish tense and/or harmonious relationships and connections. Thus, they simultaneously hold the quality/ potential of being independent while being entirely interdependent for the duration of the period in which they are held in place, in space and time.
Materials: graphite, wood, ink, paint, metal, handmade paper, glass, Perspex, cotton and nylon.
Size: variable from 50 x 70 cm (without frame) to 2 m x 1 m.
Soundscape: the sea and human voice – accessed using headphones during the exhibition and/or personal Smartphones and headphones.
Video: collaborative venture, the sea
Work in progress tbc…
