Semblance

I discovered contemporary art in the height of the lockdowns during 2020 and 2021. Joining a local arts group opened up a whole new world of making art installations and expressive pieces. I exhibited Meditations (2020) as part of an online exhibition with The Lonely Arts Club. They were exhibited for real in Oct 2021 as part of the LAC show: In-Decision. It was just a page from my diary and mark-making using pen. I collaged my words on to my drawings and it formed a very powerful collection.

Mediations was about the redundancy of organised time. Unless you made a routine, lockdown life had no structure. My diary was near-enough empty. There were no social events to go to. I, like many other busy working people, was forced to stop. I started drawing again and produced three life-size Tudor queens. Also, I wrote and self-published Flashboy Max. So, I can feel happy that I was creatively prolific. But what the Mediations series express is that I created a coping mechanism, using art to self-soothe.

It’s 2024 and Semblance is about rebuilding a life post-pandemic and dealing with every consequence that it had aside from the virus. I cut the Mediations into small pieces and formed a sculpture. The process was a catharsis. Another self-soothing ritual while I find my feet again in the new normal.

It’s a cardboard structure, read what you will about the holes that are cut into it. It’s covered with fabric, that’s printed with my diary and mark-making, and it forms a cube. Each side is different, showing the variation in the automatic drawing I was doing at the time.

View at video of Semblance by clicking this link.