Drawing Project 2014...

untitled, 

Pen and ink drawing and watercolour on Fabriano paper, 144cm x 85cm, March 2014. 

This drawing was made after a wander through an estate I'd never seen before. Most of the flats were occupied and the smaller blocks are starting to crumble and I tried to draw this into the image with rough edges and splatters of ink. 

Considering how full up these places are  what really stood out was how quiet it was. Every now and again a dog would bark at one end and this set off all the other dogs in the area. The only other noises were the distant high pitched screeches of ambulances and police cars in the city. 

Drawing Project 2014...

This drawing is part of my main drawing project for 2014.
It's built from a selection of images collected on a wander and is another view of the structures on the outskirts of Leicester city.
I find my inspiration in wandering and looking, losing my way in streets and estates I've never seen before.
To me these places are an endless supply of subjects to work from.

'E-State'

Watercolour, pen and ink drawing on Fabriano paper, 75cm x 75cm March 2014, 

Drawing Project...City Colours...

This piece is part of my main drawing project for 2014 and looks at the colours of the various buildings dotted around the city. On a wander I chose buildings that had a specific look but more importantly the colours they are painted in which stood out against the rest of the grey skyline.
It's drawn onto acetate, as architectural drawings sometimes are and then mounted onto a recovered piece of wood from a building site in Leicester City Centre.  The skyline in Leicester changes all the time and every old building is being snatched up and remade into flats and apartments, mainly for students. The good thing is a lot of the buildings are restored in a way that keeps the original features rather than removing them so the old look remains amongst the new structures.
I wanted the detailed precise structural drawing to stand out against the dirty, rough surface of the wood  and the use of acetate gives it a third dimension and as you move across the front of the piece you see things reflected in it, filling the spaces between the structures.

    'Panoramic 1', Wooden panel, acetate, pen and acrylic, 30cm x 90cm, March 2014.

                      Detail of 'Panoramic 1'.

A quick look at...Jose' Parla...

Brooklyn based artist Jose' Parla works with walls. He creates paintings that are made from and are about walls of the city he lives in. With an impulsive desire to create art on walls as a teenager he honed his skills and moved to canvas works as his skills grew. The destructive nature of graffiti art was first looked down on by people in his city and around the world but now it seems to be an accepted form of expression and these artists are now taking their work to the galleries where they sell for good money.
His works look at the deterioration of cities and his use of layering old posters, concrete mixed paint, spray paint and scratchy markings all keep him true to his artistic roots and the cultures that have used walls to display artistic creations.
His work is a great inspiration to me, the way he takes, what is essentially a scruffy derelict wall or a selection of tagged names and through his skill as an artist makes an eye-catching piece of work. I like the way he works with what he sees and what surrounds him in the same way I do with my work.
His own inspiration comes from the streets as does mine and he looks at the things I look at when I wander the streets looking for subject matter, the buildings, the surfaces and the structures.
He also looks at society and whats happening directly to the place he lives in.
His works which use the scribbled autographs remind me of Cy Twombly's paintings. Twombly is a great believer in applying text to his works to give them extra layers, qualities and meanings which rings true in the work of Jose' Parla. We aren't sure what these writings or scribblings mean in the works but we like them all the same.

A quick look at...Amy Casey...

Amy Casey makes large scale, fun, creative drawings and paintings looking at the overpopulation of the world and the cities we live in.
Her pictures bring together masses of houses, factories, shops and apartments and ties them all together in massive structural compositions that expand across the canvas.
The paintings illustrate man-kinds ability to work with whatever space and material we can, to build and exploit every space possible and her bizarre worlds are filled with characters and spaces that, like the world, keep growing and growing with no apparent control.
The works are all make-believe but the way she paints and the amount of detail make them attractive to the eye of anyone interested in buildings and structures, like me.
I like the way she looks at her worlds as futuristic places to live but paints each building in a subtle antique way tying together the old and the new.

Self Directed Project 2014...'The Bunker'...

This drawing is part of my self directed project looking at the 'life of Exo'.

This place is part of the estate I've been looking at where Exo might live. The building looks like a bunker from the 2nd world war with a big metal fence barricading the way in and the yellow bin reminded me of a tank. Grey blocks of cement tower upwards towards a stormy sky. Patriotic flags move slowly in the wind, suspended from the balcony where every now and then a commander appears with his bulldog to overlook all that lays before him. The metal spiked fence and no entry signs keep you out.

    'Bunker',   Watercolour, Pen and Ink on Fabriano Paper,  100cm x 75cm, March 2014. 

                     Detail from 'Bunker'. 

    Detail from 'Bunker'. 

The next set of images from my sketch books are my thoughts on what Exo might think of the country he lives in. 

More and more we see riots, mass unemployment, benefit cheating and capping, lack of social housing, social food stores, rough sleepers, dereliction, soup kitchens, street beggers, over filled hostels, over population, the list goes on. 

Watercolour and ink, 60cm x 40cm, April 2014. 

Watercolour and ink, 60cm x 40cm, April 2014.

Watercolour and ink, 60cm x 40cm, April 2014. 

Watercolour and ink, 60cm x 40cm, April 2014. 

Watercolour and ink, 60cm x 40cm, april 2014. 

A Quick look At...Mona Hatoum....

Lebanon born artist Mona Hatoum installs pieces that grab the attention of viewers and holds it.
The varied sculptural works use the spaces they are installed in to finalise what they are trying to show. The space therefore becomes part of the work as the work becomes part of the space.
Viewers are invited to come to their own conclusions as to whats being said, physically, emotionally and sensorially.
Personally I find the works intriguing in their simplicity and the visual effects achieved by the simple movement of something within the pieces.
The structural piece "Light Works" 1992 at the Centre Pompidou, Paris, was a simplistic set of wire lockers placed in the centre of the room but the use of a moving light bulb, raising from the floor to the ceiling and down again was what made the piece come alive. The shadows created by the movement of the light gave it an eerie presence and a feeling of claustrophobia as in a prison cell at night and was heightened by the monotone appearance of the surrounding space.
The drifting shadows made the walls come to life and the silence completed the illusion of being trapped or enclosed maybe echoing back to her childhood in lebanon.
What interests me the most about this work is the way the artist has used the whole room to create a kinetic type of installation that moves as its being watched, adding a totally different feel and experience for the viewer. The shadows give an eerie, cold environment for the viewers to immerse themselves into and this makes them become part of the work as their own shadows also move with the light.
This piece is really simple in design and installation but very complex when viewed.

    Light Works, 1992, Centre pompidou, paris.