So there you go, spots… black to basics, making a simple mark. Each spot overlaps the next, black nebulous forms evolving intuitively. There is s a sort of order about them – the geometry of the circle. I suppose that spot is singular, the ‘I’ or maybe the dot on the 'i'.
I tried very hard in the past to police ‘self expression’ so the work could resonate with others. I desperately wanted criticality… that distinction from the league of Sunday painters – the ‘habitual artist’. There was probably some nihilism in there to - imagine after spending so much time making and thinking with a machine-produced aesthetic, the idea of going back to drawing exclusively was scary. I decided to take life-drawing classes; to recapture some lost idea of talent. Not to go into it too long - I abandoned that project.
Going it alone I crept back into the studio, turned the lights down and studied that spot. Suddenly there was potential – maybe reinvention - I might be struck by some mysterious bolt of ‘genius’.
Most of the early drawings are 252 cm by circumstances, which includes being low on cash. At first these drawings were black – densely back. Combining different inks and layering brought a depth to the surface. All of a sudden I was walking around the drawings seeing different marks appear and disappear as I moved. Ironically right out of drawing something formally sculptural was happening - it felt like for the first time. I spent a long time making these drawings trying not to know too much, trying to let the process breath. Repetition can be a life saver in this game, you will arrive at somewhere eventually. Then I had an epiphany... I put one on a light box and a whole new world opened up...
Untitled Black Series 2009
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