05 December 2014

The joy of grids

Going on from the simple structural drawings from one of the early galleries in the sketchbook walk
Charcoal mirrored on the opposite page, simply through closing the book
incorporating the "cages" that were part of Susan Hefuna's "Cairotraces" show -
I started cutting through the layers in various ways. Joining printouts of various magnifications of my drawings, for instance; cutting through sections, putting coloured paper behind the cutouts, looking through the holes -

Blowing up photographs, cutting out the various layers separately (with plain sheets under the top copy)
 which leads to grids that can interact with each other -
 and with other drawn grids -which can be photographed and printed out and cut through ... on and on (perhaps) -
Plan A is to use them as monoprinting, as for the cut-out maps in the Monoprint and Handstitch course last summer. It might be sensible to "seal" the flimsy papers with a coat of acrylic paint (=plastic) before finding the hard way that they tear all to readily when lifted off the almost-dry plate. 

Plan B is to enlarge the grids and translate them into textile layers ... not sure how (or if) this will happen.

Yet another plan is to keep drawing and try to get some real depth happening. The holes in the centre of each side really help with this. It's those holes that caught my interest in the first place. As though something could wind in and out and around and back in again, an endless ribbon tying itself up in knots. A path that crosses and recrosses [a badly-walked maze?]. Something to think about during insomnia.

A lot of these units, joined, could make a nightmare labyrinth - small holes high up to crawl through, the meshwork-layers making the path totally unclear. Something NOT to think about during insomnia.

1 comment:

Olga Norris said...

Did you see the Christina Iglesias exhibition in Campden a few years back?
I love Susan Hefuna's work. I was lucky enough to see several of her drawings in a Big Draw exhibition some years ago in Sheffield and bought a book of her work. Grids certainly do hold their grip, don't they? I love seeing what you are doing with them.