History of Here
Summer 2021
The root of my work is about the markings of the world — the small events unfolding that together tell a story about place. Although I’ve been investigating place and memory since early 2000s, it wasn’t until 2016 that I introduced the Earth as a key inspirational component in the work. A trip to Utah in May 2016 was a springboard for further inquiry. Following the trip, I created a body of work titled “Recording In and On It” where I remarked “I am interested in the marks made as interactions with our surroundings. This includes the tracks, prints, and marks that we make as creatures of the human race, as well as the natural elements that overtime alter the state of the world.” In 2021, I’ve reminded myself what themes in my work are most important to me and challenged myself to further explore them.
I have simultaneously been working on 2 separate bodies of work. One titled “Terra” and the other “History of Here”.
Since the paintings, ‘Terra”, were wrapped up in complicated processes, the finished paintings only began to resembling themselves in their final step. For this reason I began to crave another source of more instant gratification. It was important to balance the process-driven work of “Terra” with another art form. I implemented drawing into my studio practice, as a means to satisfy this yearning. There is a tactile and immediate cause and effect unavoidable in the medium of drawing. From the moment the tool touches the paper, it leaves a mark. In the past I have been tempted to rework and layer these markings into a larger piece, but for this work I felt it was important to allow the markings to stand on their own. I revisited my 2017 body of work, “The History of Here”.
In this collection of drawings, I use abstracted marks and simple forms referencing the landscapes of my surroundings. My work embraces my relationship with the stimulating terrain of places I’ve visited.
These drawings are my visual reactions and interpretations of natural patterns that I have observed. These markings mimics the invisible sounds and movements perceived in daily life and obvious textures and patterns noted in nature.
By eliminating a strong colour palette present in my past work, and by using primarily drawing techniques, focus is given to the monochrome markings. The drawings, made up of overlapping tonal fields, clusters of organic patter, soft swooping lines, and bold points of interest, together create a map to a fantastical experience.
The “History of Here” refers to the story of one single space. It’s the idea that each mundane everyday location, such as a park bench, as the possibility of having an infinite past. When you begin to consider every tiny movement and action, you begin to imagine how dense and complicated each place may be.