Radial TWO
Radial / TWO uses a rotational symmetry aligned with a single repeat across the centre line, to make a kind of Flow like geometry for the toroid form. The movement comes out of the maths that define it, and so the similarity to an ammonite form, or a bisected shell interior, is both accidental and inevitable, as the mathematical patterns that underly the form are the same as those found throughout the natural world.
Motorik / ONE
Motorik / ONE has seven horizontal bars, and needs to be quite large on the wall to really work. I felt that the newly syncopated rhythm that the disassembling and restructuring creates in some way captured a little of the fabulous motorik beat I was listening to in the studio. Timeless experimental recordings made by Can and Neu! in the seventies that still seem totally contemporary to this day.
Revolver 8
Revolver is one of the earliest studies from the project, and one that forms the basis for much of what has been drawn since, especially with regard to the idea of using a square format, and a circular line. There are no glazes or transparencies here, simply the linework in motion, captured at a particular moment in time. The studies are off centre, a little off kilter, and that tension, I think, is where the interest lies.
Wave / electrolysed
I made Wave / electrolysed as a nine panel, 2 metre square piece for Coda on Cork Street with the intention of creating something that would flood the space with colour. The drawing is part of a longer study I worked on from 2005 to 2008, which became a series of maybe a dozen chromatic variations, using a number of carefully honed palettes to form the series.
Revolver 25
Revolver is one of the earliest studies from the project, and one that forms the basis for much of what has been drawn since, especially with regard to the idea of using a square format, and a circular line. There are no glazes or transparencies here, simply the linework in motion, captured at a particular moment in time. The studies are off centre, a little off kilter, and that tension, I think, is where the interest lies.
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Orbit
I drew Orbit for my Generator show, intending to combine some of the fluidity of the mark making I’d used in the Lyric series, with the toroid form of the Radial series, and a palette that in its first iteration would capture something of the sun, and the earth. The subsequent turquoise aegis variant exchanges this palette for something altogether more liquid in feel.
Spiral scratch
Spiral Scratch is the title of one of the first independent 7” records to be released in the UK, by the Buzzcocks in 1977. I made this drawing as a small homage to that independent spirit, in which the artists really did, for a short while, seem to take over the means of production. It’s also a kind of palimpsest for the thrill of watching a single spin from stationery to 45rpm before you dropped your stylus into the groove, in excited anticipation of the sounds to come.
Shellac
Shellac is a process experiment, in which the colour work and the linework are separated into two distinct fields, and worked on separately and quite distinctly from each other. I have a real interest in the idea of generating errors, mistakes and chance happenings, all things which the digital toolset is largely designed to avoid, and to some extent, therefore, become things to be cherished more highly when they occur.
SysVar / TWO
SysVar TWO takes on a far looser approach to the idea of using a series of modular variations to rework a particular study. There’s a fluidity to the linework which is contrasted with vertically placed blocks of colour across the base of the image. I guess the idea of the variation stems from a natural love of the set, the series and perhaps even the bigger idea of a collection.
Revolver / oxidised
Revolver is one of the earliest studies from the project, and one that forms the basis for much of what has been drawn since, especially with regard to the idea of using a square format, and a circular line. There are no glazes or transparencies here, simply the linework in motion, captured at a particular moment in time. The studies are off centre, a little off kilter, and that tension, I think, is where the interest lies.
Stellify / ONE
Stellify is derived from a modular model of the fourteenth stellation of an icosahedron, blended with some of the essence of Dale Chihuly’s extraordinary glass creations. The way the drawing morphed as I worked on it made for a really interesting journey, perhaps in part because I felt that I knew what I wanted from the study, but it resolutely refused to bend to my whim.
Black wave
The Wave series incorporates twelve chromatic variations, including Black Wave and Wave / electrolysed. Dating back to 2005, these are some of the first drawings I made to experiment with the idea of using digital tools to continue the C20th exploration around making abstract and colour space art from a studio setting.
