ON TOUCH AND SCREENS

These artworks stem from an artistic research project asking what can painting and drawing practice reveal about contemporary practices and perceptions of touchscreen technology, focussing on touch and gesture. Here, attention isn’t so much directed towards the images, videos and text that fill the screens of electronic devices but rather the window-like glass that is often looked through. For this work, fingerprints, reflections, cracked and chipped glass have been variously recorded, traced and re-interpreted using artistic media and methods.

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Mae’r gweithiau celf yma yn deillio o brosiect ymchwil artistig yn gofyn beth all peintio a lluniadu ddatgelu am arferion cyfoes o gylch technoleg sgrin gyffwrdd, gyda phwyslais ar ystumiau a chyffyrddiad. Yma, nid yw'r sylw'n cael ei gyfeirio cymaint at y delweddau, y fideos a'r geiriau sy'n llenwi sgriniau ein dyfeision electronig, ond yn hytrach y petryal gwydr sy’n cael ei sbïo ‘drwyddo’. Ar gyfer y gwaith hwn, mae olion bysedd, adlewyrchiadau a gwydr wedi hollti a tholcio wedi'u cofnodi, dargopïo a'u hail-ddehongli mewn ffyrdd amrywiol gan ddefnyddio cyfryngau a dulliau artistig.

Trace (2019 - present)
Series of metalpoint on gesso drawings.
Each: 16.5 x 10 x 1 cm & 17.5 x 11 x. 1 cm

One aspect of carrying a smartphone is that it inevitably collects scratches, dents, and cracks over time. Each crack inscribes the glass surface with a one-of-a-kind linear pattern.

These artworks were made using metalpoint: a traditional drawing technique that involves using a piece of metal held in a stylus to mark a surface. A characteristically uniform line is created as small amounts of the metal is imparted onto an abrasive ground. The drawings in the series Trace were made using metals that are traditional drawing materials and that also form component parts of mobile phones. Each is drawn using one type of metal – gold, silver, aluminium, nickel or copper.

07:30, 09:23 and 16:07 (2019)
Three metalpoint on gesso drawn objects.
Each: 14 x 7 x 1 cm
Images: front and reverse views

Each artwork’s title indicates the time of day that a gesture was performed – 07:30 corresponds to selecting ‘snooze’ in response to the morning alarm clock, 09:23 to the typing of a text message and 16:07 to the setting of a timer. Metals that form component parts of a smartphone - gold, aluminium and nickel - were selected to mark a gesso ground to create drawn objects that share the dimensions of an average mobile phone.

A journal contribution about this work can be viewed here >>

Particles (2019 - 2023)
Series of metalpoint drawings on gesso board
Each: 36 x 25 x 1 cm & 31.5 x 22 x 1 cm

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Particles (2019 - 2023)
Cyfres o luniadau metalbwynt ar fwrdd geso
Bob un: 36 x 25 x 1 cm & 31.5 x 22 x 1 cm

Interface (2022)
Metalpoint drawing on gesso board
50 x 36 x 1 cm

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Interface (2022)
Lluniad metalbwynt ar fwrdd geso
50 x 36 x 1 cm