Paintings & Drawings2017produced

PRIMAL BOOK

Figure, tree, arc, the vocabulary the rest are built from

A large pale arc across a black sheet with a standing figure drawn in fine mesh beneath it, a small circular form at the upper right and scattered marks between

A figure suspended beneath a long horizontal bar, a wide loop at the left, and a band of dense hatching along the lower edge — Thin drawn line and broad wet stroke on one sheet, the two speeds of the method.

Two pages of the book, a branching tree drawn in pale gold on the left and a single filled disc on the right — The tree, and a disc

A spread with a standing figure sketched in thin gold lines, most of the sheet left black — A figure, barely held

A wide arc, a standing figure drawn as fine mesh, a small round form off to one side. The same few shapes come back across every later sheet, which is what the title is pointing at.

A spread of straight ruled lines meeting at two bright discs, like a constellation drawn with a rule — Ruled lines, two discs

A spread where a spray of gold rises from the lower edge and breaks apart against the black — A spray rising

A spread with a large pale moon over a row of small figures and marks along the lower edge — The moon over the small figures

A spread carrying the letters A and B beside a moon, a grid of dots and a scatter of symbols — A and B

Sodium hypochlorite, household bleach, drawn onto black paper with brush, dropper and bare hand. The bleach lifts the dye out of the sheet rather than adding anything to it, so every mark arrives pale gold and none of them can be taken back. A line keeps spreading after the hand has left, which means the drawing finishes itself.

The book itself, folded into a standing concertina and photographed from three sides — The book, folded and standing

Several copies of the book arranged upright along pale shelves under warm light — Shown on the shelves

One copy standing open on a plinth, its folded pages holding it up like a screen — Standing open

Titled PRIMAL BOOK, and dated 2017, the earliest of the run, made before the method had settled. It shares its name and its instinct with the folded books and the wider Primal family.

Medium: Sodium hypochlorite (bleach) on black paper
Materials: Sodium hypochlorite (household chlorine bleach), Black paper
Dimensions: 50 × 65 cm
Role: Artist