The Objects of the Exercise...

Returning to the point immediately prior to that at which the presence of the pears assumed & demanded all-consuming attention, once more to the ‘roadkill’ cans as the familiar & ongoing subject of exploration & representation, but more specifically as a photocopied image of such appears upon/within the physical object matter of a folded-unfolded, thus creased, & lightly crumpled sheet of paper, which object itself thus establishes a relational visual dialogue with the folded & surface-crumpled nature of the object-as-image reproduced, depicted, upon it.
There occurs also something of a tension between flatness & texture, at least as represented, although this, of course, is ultimately resolved in favour of the former via the medium of the smooth-surfaced watercolour.


graphite & watercolour/30x20cm

As with the previous example, as the watercolour drawing represents the sheet of paper, so it re-mediates its image content, adding another layer to the representational process (in the manner of 2008’s project of drawings sourced from print media photographic reproductions).

By way of something of a contrast with the flat reproduction of the photocopied can as it appears in the subsequent print - absolutely stilled, its appearance fixed - & then the resulting drawing of this, below is presented a photograph of the object itself, thus only once mediated, removed, from source, altogether more vivid & palpable, the inconsistencies of its surface alive to the play of light upon it...


Also, certain colour changes occur discernibly between the object itself & the printed reproduction of its image (the photocopier used in this instance gives something of a slight yellow-green cast to its prints, for example), which becomes something altogether 'other than', again reflected in the re-mediated watercolour, further distancing itself from source as the process deepens, intensifies.
The watercolour itself undergoes alterations in colour as it is scanned, by another mechanical process, another level of mediation, thus complicating the whole representational process still further.

Aside from the obvious reference, as previously noted, to certain of the work of Vija Celmins, to establish something other of an art historical link, however playful & tenuous, & on a purely surface level, one might relate such an image as featured in the drawing to a device to which painters have frequently made recourse throughout the noble & compelling tradition of the still life composition, with objects set upon & against a white tablecloth rumpled, arranged, into a sequence of incidental details of aesthetically pleasing & technically challenging creases, peaks & depressions, offering the exploration of a range of tonal subtleties, such as following details extracted from, firstly, Pieter Claesz’s ‘Breakfast Piece’, which might reasonably be termed a ‘typically Dutch’ example of the genre, & then Cezanne’s ‘Basket of Apples’, but one of numerous instances featured within the scope of the artist’s work.


[detail of Pieter Claesz 'Breakfast Piece', oil on wood, 1646]


[detail of Paul Cezanne 'Basket of Apples', oil on canvas, c.1895]

Soundtrack:


Jesca Hoop 'Kismet'
Portishead 'Three'
Belle & Sebastian 'The Life Pursuit' & 'Push Barman to Open Old Wounds'
Tuung 'Good Arrows'