I’m continuing this lockdown series, accumulating shapes in ordered and chaotic formations.
A0
Mixed media on black recycled card.
Detail:
Archives for category: circle
Here I broke with recent tradition and drew onto a large sheet of paper. Felt tip pens allow a more precise, clear line than chalk. Looking close, the drawing is full of human error and inaccuracy. This makes it feel somehow alive, less rigid and perfect than a digitally rendered image.
The paper used is 274 x 290 cm. I want to work as large as possible. Please get in touch if you have a spare gable wall or expanse of concrete you’d like me to draw on..
The drawing in my space in Cathedral Studios:
Detail of the centre
Studio Space
Drawing I
Drawing II
These wall drawings were rendered with pencil. It operates in a more subtle, elusive register than chalk. The viewer is forced to look closer and from different angles to discern the complete shape of the work.
I experiment with the inclusion of resonant objects in keeping with drawing. For example, in a recent studio critique I included two small pieces of metal, one a triangle and one a parallelogram placed on the floor. Their forms informed these drawings. I interrogate chosen objects and their exact placement in their environment.
Drawings are ephemeral, planned to be made, rigorously documented and painted over. I do not want to overly prescribe how the works should or should not be read. The work is richer if it invites multiple interpretations. Subtle clues can be given but I find strength through ‘undecidability.’
The photograph below shows two recent wall drawings, created in the weeks leading up to culture night Belfast on the 18th of September. A dark blue bass drum has been placed in front of them.
Drawing I
Drawing II
I also made a sound performance piece with Michael O’Halloran that evening, he using guitar and a loop station, and I playing bass drum, hi-hat and snare drum. The rules that governed this were as follows:
‘Loop station Performance’
- The guitar will be playing within a loop that will repeat after a predetermined amount of time.
- The tempo and the key will be fixed, and notes will be improvised within a recurring pattern.
- The pattern will be manipulated with digital effects, but always manipulated as a whole.
- The drums will follow the pattern established by the guitar.
- The performance will last ten minutes.
The performance was intended to augment/activate the drawings in a thoughtful way. Just as they were produced by a process of repetition and layering of individual component shapes, the idea was to layer and repeat notes to eventually achieve a complex build up of sound.
After culture night I decided to leave the bass drum in front of the drawings. The drum’s form is sculptural, the circular shape echoes the shape of the drawing. It is a resonant object both sonically and symbolically.
John Macormac 