Drawn to the Sea...

Inspired by the artist's featuring in the March issue of Art Review as one of the magazine's 30 up-&-coming 'Future Greats', intriguingly & enthusiastically promoted in a text by Michael Bracewell, & a subsequent visit to see more examples of his work on the Ingleby Gallery website, it became necessary late last week to invest in the catalogue of the recent exhibition of Richard Forster's drawings held at that very venue.


The book itself is a handsome object, an exquisitely designed & produced slim volume, bound in linen &, within, a poetic essay by the same Michael Bracewell accompanying & interpreting, generally, over 40 of Richard Forster's seascape drawings, a pair of which are here reproduced as facing pages in the catalogue.



Even in reproduction, the drawings are compelling indeed, their appearance referencing their photographic origins in, for instance, their sometimes 'out of focus' nature & being, as Michael Bracewell notes, through the meticulously-detailed & -realised richness of their transcription, redolent of daguerreotypes, atmospheric & evocative: although made from recently-taken photographs by the artist himself, the drawings' appearance suggests their source as being temporally indeterminate (this also applies more locally & immediately to the time of day they communicate or complicate, which might be any- &/or everything from dawn to dusk). In a very interesting term - to one whose practice over the last year & more, drawing from 'readymade' photographic sources, has been concerned with such a fundamental issue of process - Bracewell states that Forster's drawings "own the dense aesthetic values of re-mediation" (my emphasis): one to consider & research in greater depth (N.B. the term appears to have been used primarily regarding the new digital media & its relation to older ones, but, reversing the process seems an equally valid & fruitful area of exploration).

Inevitably with the subject, Richard Forster's seascapes reference the Romantic & notions of the sublime: one contemplates the wonder of the endless, timeless ebb & flow of the waves, which also suggests the process of drawing, the mark-making, additions & erasures. The drawings are beautiful, their tones subtly, expertly modulated, their individual details described with great care & attention that yet transcends technique: Bracewell suggests that Forster's achievement is twofold, artistic & philosophical, a fitting tribute to such compelling drawings in the form of a sustained & ultimately substantial body of work (completed between the spring & autumn of 2008).

One particularly interesting & profound aspect of the drawings is their invariable depiction of that point at which the sea meets the land in a foamy tracery of lace-like forms, with waves & the horizon receding beyond, that edge between the elements of water & earth: this having reminded me of those photographs taken some time ago now of the local double black line road markings from which I had intended & indeed begun to process drawings &, perhaps, paintings & to which it might be fruitful to return, to reconsider & re-engage with...