The build up of the charcoal if secondary to the intended mark made in the production of drawing, yet we are drawn to the incidental marks made by the dust of the process. The marks are a physical index of the process, they are what is left behind a kind of trace of contact. They replicate the object or processes they have came from but are a different thing again. They are created by a human connection to the surface giving a sense of human agency to the drawing, the collection of residue make sculptural forms on top of the two dimensional surface, some thing I have exploited through photography. The development of the materials has lead the process, to gain a better understanding of the mark making I have first to gain more understanding of the material qualities.
The Polaroid acts as a transitional space in the process, framing the materiality and the impulsively selected elements. Transforming them in scale and quality, a reproduction not taking away from but creating a new aura. The selection of Polaroid as a medium is a conscious choice, a selection of the old, the fragile and in some ways the ephemeral. The use of old technology with a time expiration a control provided by the medium not one that can be adapted or changed. The material chemicals change in the life span of the image, the layers of emulsion replicate the build up of residue produced by charcoal. The image hangs onto aspects of the material elements of the original but the reproduction becomes of value both aesthetically and monetary. The photograph not only acts as an index of events but its framed white lines select and point out the imperfection in the process, the materially. The use of expired film also releases control over to a chemical process not only affected by my handling of it but the material used to replicate images. Mistakes can be as beautiful as the correct. Transferred onto glass it allows the viewer to see all layers of imagery, the emulsion trace becomes part of surface pattern, something that perhaps should have been removed during the process but I have kept. The square lift sits on a square frame, a circle interrupts the image.
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