On the Road Again #5 (with Roadkill)

watercolour & torn paper collage/30x20cm

In common with the previous example, this watercolour representation/re-mediation* of photographic evidence of local tarmac road surfaces with their ‘double black lines’ markings (‘correctively’ repainted over original yellow, then subsequently repainted again) attempts to construct as dense a surface as possible whilst maintaining a sense &, indeed, physical record of the process of that surface’s facture, of the individual brushstrokes that have gone into its making, touch by touch, layer by layer (multiple ones of Ivory Black & Payne’s Grey, then finished with tints of various greens, & turquoise over the lines), in the interests of establishing some form of surface/depth formal dialogue: this resultingly appears as the most solid construction yet, its depths less watery than previously, less ambiguous somehow, which might not necessarily be for the best. The lines themselves are collaged torn strips of paper, applied in layers in keeping with the nature of the actual road surface as found & photographed (i.e. the 3 layers of yellow then black over black), serving to both provide an element of linear 'drawing' & physical texture, a low-relief 'object quality' to the painting-image.

* I remain greatly intrigued by Michael Bracewell's catalogue essay notion of Richard Forster's drawings of the sea, made from original photographic sources, "own(ing) the dense aesthetic values of re-mediation", & wonder if there might one day be any mileage in exploring the matter theoretically, in an appropriately academic, supportive environment, relating to my own practice.
(Note: this idea & matter was first mentioned on March 1st last year...glacially slow is how we do things - or rather, consider doing things, possibly - around here).

A post-painting trip outdoors subsequently resulted in a fabulous couple of finds, duly photographed, of TOoT's familiar subject/object matter 'roadkill' occurring just so, upon, alongside, a pair of instances of the now legendary local 'double black lines', indeed one following the other sequentially in close proximity.
In suitably art-historical fashion, note the discarded cigarette butt, a la Jackson Pollock, adjacent to the flattened can, (embedded) within this particular 'all-over' mostly-monochrome picture plane...(are the photographs themselves 'art'? Well, if one sees them, &/or what they, framed as an image & mechanically captured as such, depict, then perhaps so, or at least the possibility might exist that such could be considered within the context of art..Is the 'work' of art sufficient to have perceived the potential for something - some scene, some combination of formal elements that relate 'art-historically', & then clicked a shutter button to illustrate such potential - to be, or considered as being?)...



A second such example was then to be found but yards further along, literally on the way around the corner, an interesting occurrence of curves (& also other painted road markings, for a more complex pictorial composition)...



There were also a fine couple of physically 'litter-picked' finds in the 'roadkill' cans department, too, suitably reformed for being processed into drawing: a most purposeful Sunday morning's potter...

Soundtrack:


Scritti Politti 'White Bread Black Beer'
Belle & Sebastian 'Tigermilk'
The Beatles 'Revolver'