(Written 07/06/2020)
I’m going to ask a question.
Am I still thinking about the same things or have I been seduced by the methods and materials?
This may be a rhetorical question, or it may be an exploration. I may end up where I started, all fine, or I may set off in a different direction.
But I find I’m at a stage where I have to ask myself the difficult question. It’s the sort of question that could derail everything. But I still feel the need. I’ve felt this coming on for about a month I suppose. It might be a lockdown state of mind thing, and will pass.
My work is changing, so I need to check in with it. It’s physical appearance is changing. So am I still thinking it’s about those same things? It’s always (well for a decade at least) been about the touch of one person on another, influence, effect.
I’m also wondering if the change happened ages ago but I’ve just noticed?
It’s obviously a gradual thing… did it start when I began drawing, abstracting? Was there a shift happening around the time of the Cause and Effect exhibition? Was that body of work, all up on the gallery walls the point of shift?
I am definitely concentrating on materials at the moment… wire and ink and watercolour.
The ink lines… less sensitive to the paper than graphite, the lines glide over the surface, they don’t dig in, they pay little heed to the texture. So where’s the Cause and Effect here? The watercolour and ink react, and the water I spray also does. But I’m not getting the sensitivity of feedback that happens between paper and fingertips.
I may have taken a diversion along a cul de sac… perhaps a step back is in order here?
