Reaching

Reaching was a fine graphite drawing applied directly to the walls of the gallery space. The pattern emerged from the edges of an invisible boundary or frame, the marks climbing, spilling and reaching across the wall.

The marks were influenced from the details in leaves, their fragility and decay revealing the pattern of their skeleton. This was manipulated into a new drawing, that was methodical and repetitive yet grew intuitively, the piece developing organically – interacting with the texture of the wall.

From far away the piece seemed almost not there, the tiny details and subtle graphite out of focus. Yet as the viewer stepped closer to the work, perhaps taking in another piece, the graphite became more apparent, more curious – drawing the viewer in closer and closer to investigate the tiny lines.

This piece only lasted the duration of the exhibition, which ran from 2nd – 6th September. For me the temporary nature of the piece amplifies the fragility. Our time and the natural world hold such ephemeral elements – I am intrigued by the idea of dedicating a great amount of time and detail to something that will be washed away, rubbed out or painted over. I feel this is representational to the ebb of life, everything amounting to memories or lost, forgotten. Although this holds a sadness, to me it captures something beautiful.

A lot of my wall drawings flow completely free, yet with this one I wanted to capture that freedom within a confined shape. The piece stops at edges that make up a rectangular boundary. This was to imitate a traditional framed piece or canvas. In curating the exhibition I decided that I wanted to create this wall drawing next to framed pieces. The lack of a physical form in contrast to the pieces next to it intensified the idea of this being something intangible – something we are unable to keep and that would not last.