Week Seventeen | Heads and Holes

I had really hoped to get to London to see Frank Auerbach’s ‘Charcoal Heads’ at the Courthauld this week but it’s half term and it’s just not happening. It would have been better to see the show now as I am creating erasure drawings for the Interim show but it will have to wait until I am there anyway in March. The thing that most interests me about Auerbach’s heads is the erasure as he rubbed so furiously at the paper that he made holes and had to keep patching them up. My erasure drawings will not be patched up but remain as the central feature of the drawings.

Note to self: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001vsbv Interview with Auerbach

I have continued experiments with ruination and how to express ruination through salt and earth to create imagery that speaks to decay, erosion and loss. I have been trying out various techniques on some small, experimental canvases with some interesting effects. Having experimented extensively with various techniques around ruination I feel that they all have a place of some sort, some more than others. I have been sanding my paintings for years for good reason and although the bleach, salt and earth feel a bit less well developed, they seem to each have their place at the moment.

I have been looking into some more imaginative materials and reviewed the Material District website that we discussed quite early on in the MA. This light paper grabbed my attention and I have requested further information. I don’t know how this could be relevant but the idea of a large scale light drawing sounds intriguing. My good friend Adam Ball’s paper cut outs and lightboxes spring to mind - I will be talking to him and visiting his studio when I come to London for the Low Res and I hope to gain some insight into the relationship between paper and light in his practice.

Diaphanous paper is something I would like to research as I feel the Japanese rice paper I used for the frottage felt interesting and could layer beautifully in the book hangings. I have been monoprinting a lot lately and the results always seem to spark something in me.