Manchester based artist Lesley Halliwell is amongst the group with three of her meticulously drawn spirograph pictures. Using a classic childrens toy and Biro pens she produces pattern flooded works based on constant repetition.
The artist experiments with different qualities of biro. Some run out sooner than others and the feint lines scored into the paper by the empty nibs become part of the images as do the ink splats and blobs made as a pen explodes onto the paper.
'Fanatic 4500 minutes', a wall sized rainbow of repetitive pattern and colour is the largest piece in the exhibition. Each brightly coloured line appears clear and precise and seemingly never-ending. The piece took a total of 75 hours to complete which is a testament to the artists apparent obsessive nature.
The works remind me of old William Morris wallpaper and the shocking wallpaper designs you would see in the 70's. The detail is intriguing as are the depth of line and colour and after a while they become slightly hypnotic, like the magic eye pictures of the 90's.
She also display longer works rolled into long strips of paper and hung on the wall. She says she was inspired by Pierro Manzoni's 'Linee', a painted line, rolled, concealed and displayed in a tube.
The use of spirographs appears in a lot of artists work and some have taken the idea one step further. Tony Orrico uses his whole body to produce beautiful 'human spirograph' pictures which are amazing to look at.
Halliwell's work continues to gain exposure in the UK showing at Turner contemporary, The Pumphouse, Jerwood drawing and the sadly missed city gallery in Leicester. She has taken a very simple technique and used it in her own successful way.
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