Going through my father's things following his death made me dwell upon how little there was to show for his life.
Broken, rusted and obsolete hand wielded tools were once everyday items which provided strong practical aids to productivity. Now discarded, their fragility has become more apparent, emphasizing the transience of existence. The items become catalysts, gently nudging open dusty doors of enquiry into how such implements were used and by whom. Visually documenting these discarded tools, using graphite pencils, I returned to basic mark making, learnt as a child. By drawing on gesso coated board or canvas, my works hint that more is to follow, because such surfaces usually support complex oil painted images. Layers of gesso gradually accumulated to produce traditionally prepared surfaces. Similarly, layers of graphite coalesced to present shapes and tones that have been gathered together like patches of memory, to form vague suggestions rather than solid structures. Unease is created by removing context, in order to communicate displacement and loss.
My quest when portraying these tools was to embrace the challenging words of William Morris-
“any decoration is futile…when it does not remind you of something beyond itself.”
These large drawings form part of THE KEEPER, MEMORIES OF A RURAL LIFE collection, curated by Dr Sally Butler and Kerry Gillet.
SCRATCHING THE SURFACE
1220mm x 950mm x 9mm
Graphite on Gesso On Plywood