I’m pleased to have reached my 100th blog post. Here is another large scale drawing from a long time ago. Layers of compressed charcoal build up the tones. I washed over them with a brush, which formed the drips. the perspective is off but the piece was more concerned with creating an atmosphere. It’s based on the Belfast Telegraph building on York Street.
This is quite an old piece, from my art college days. The composition is adapted from a photograph of the roof of a dilapidated building, exposed beams were silhouetted against grey skies. Layers of compressed charcoal and graphite were repeatedly worked to become dense, then the cross or crane like form was erased from the black.
The cross shape and the title are deliberately ambiguous and open to interpretation, like most of my work. Author and friend Dr Peter Rollins now owns the piece, I think he found it resonated with some of his thought.
This relatively large scale piece was made on several pieces of packaging card that were joined with tape. The edges were deliberately ripped to fit with the worn and weather beaten feel I was trying to project around this time. The elongated ‘H’ like structure of the piece is influenced by the bold brushwork of Franz Kline and by decaying machinery of Belfast’s industrial past. Figures can be discerned in the ambiguous black shapes in the central band.
I wanted this work to echo the feel of a beach in winter. I employed a muted, faded colour palette. Scrim was glued to the surface and resembles fishing nets. The piece is an irregular shape, this also recalls pieces of flotsam and jetsam worn with time and tides.
Here are five more minimal works, made around the same time as those in post 50: (https://johnmacormacart.wordpress.com/2012/10/02/50th-post-5-minimal-works/)
These fragile, loosely titled works are on paper and card. The first three are quick experiments and the fourth and fifth are composed of debris from other pieces lying around my studio held together with glue. I find that like sketchbook works, these pieces are freer and not laboured as ‘finished’ pieces can often be.
Dripped gloss over black
Deep blue with pink
Mask on black with drips
Worn paper on card
Globe within square
I’m glad to say I’ve reached my 50th WordPress post. Here are 5 minimal, as yet untitled works from last year. I like the idea that humble materials like graph paper and cardboard used for packaging can be beautiful. Compositional balance is again a major concern. The soft, muted colours balance well when there is less happening.
I was looking at a lot of Robert Ryman works when I made these.
This image was inspired by prehistoric cave paintings, graffiti and the changing light on Belfast’s Black mountain.
John Macormac 