Fingers, 2022
Spray paint & photocopy on coloured carbon paper hot mounted on aluminium 31 x 22 x 4 cm. Bespoke ash wood frames.
All works are unique
Fingers is a new family of works on paper that juxtapose feelings of uncertainty with a desire for direction. These drawings continue my fascination with the process, structure and metaphor associated with growing hops. Fingers draw their title and form from the wind-vanes of the oasthouses which were part of my childhood landscape. Traditionally fingers have distinctive motifs – such as arrows and circles – which are specific to place. Sailing high above the countryside and subject to changing eddies, I see fingers as strange signposts to both direction and flux.
For these drawings I researched historic finger motifs and rendered them – or fractals of them – as computer generated graphic designs. I then prepared the grounds. I use coloured carbon paper, a material connecting me to my father who used it when writing poetry. The paper is folded, stripped back and then spray-painted creating layers of opacity and translucency. Then the ‘finger’ designs are photocopied onto the ground. As a result, Fingers have a hand-made quality with boldness of colour and echo of dynamic forward looking 1960’s design, yet a fragility of texture and surface. The simple frames are unglazed to create immediacy between viewer and artwork. Fingers were developed through Brexit and lockdown, times of personal and global uncertainty of direction.
Photo Credit for all images: Marcus Leith