Tracing PAPER Exhibition - Preview 4th of June

As part of this group exhibition I will be showing three new 'metronome drawings' and carrying out a live drawing performance in collaboration with musician David Birchall (11th of May 3pm). For the past six months myself and eight other artists have been mentored by PAPER gallery through a series of group crits, and this exhibition brings together some of the work we have made during that time. www.paper-gallery.co.uk

The 'metronome drawings' have grown out of my drawings made in response to sound and whilst under hypnosis, and are a new way of working that further explores my preoccupation with drawing as an experience - a place to inhabit.

Focusing on the sound of a ticking metronome I begin making marks in time with the frantic or steady pace, depending on what I have pre-set the metronome to do. I quickly become locked into the rhythm, absorbed. However as the drawing grows the sound seems to recede from my consciousness, becoming a semi hidden framework for the drawing to take place within. Forms emerge and recede out of the build up of lines, decisions are made about what to pull out and what to leave behind. These drawings are done in one sitting, usually with several drawings produced one after the other. The decision to stop an individual drawing comes when I feel enough of the story has emerged, to keep going would kill it (or say to much). Occasionally it is the metronome winding down that forces me to a halt, when I have become totally lost in the drawing. The challenge is to find the balance between conscious criticism and (less conscious) abandon.

'Metronome #4', 2015, white gel pen on black paper, 21x29.5cm.

'Metronome #3, 2015, white gel pen on black paper, 21 x 29.5cm.

'Metronome #5', 2015, pen on paper, 28x36cm.

View more images of my recent work here Gallery