I’ve always been interested in the idea of fragments of the past and how, mentally, we add to them in order to create a view of that past. I did some work on this with some patches of fabric following a visit to the Foundling Museum in London (see Patterns Seeping and Patterns Seeping II).
Sometimes I have reversed the process to make fragments of work I have alreadymade. Again, the examples below (‘Missded’) were made in response to a visit I made to the Foundling Museum (see ‘Missded 1‘, ‘Missded 1 Stitched‘, ‘Missded 1 – A Framed Token‘).
Taking this idea, I’ve applied it to the ‘Shadow Calligraphy characters’ I’ve recently painted. I’m not suggesting for one minute the results make for good art, but I like the idea that a remnant of the past (the ‘character’) can be added to, just as when we try and imagine the past, we create the colours and sounds that went with the original fragment.
My choice of inks was extremely limited and these aren’t quite right, but it’s an idea I’ll continue to explore, as I have done with some oil paintings already.
