Text and Image in My Work

I am fascinated by the combination of text and image – by adding text to my work it introduces the notion of a narrative. However, because the text does not describe the image and the image does not illustrate the text, it creates a tension; undefined scenarios and ambiguous ‘hidden’ narratives.

Much of the text is cut from pages of novels, but rather than following the story I scan through the prose to find poems or phrases by linking words from sentences. In my variation of the cut up technique, I must be able to cut the ‘poem’ I create out in one section – it functions as a collage piece in itself. This is distinct from the cut up technique of cutting out words or strips of words and re-arranging them randomly.

I am using what is on the page but distorting the sense through my editing.

Here are some examples:

Lost (or gained) In Translation

When I'm in Denmark with Karen I love to go through all the magazines and newspapers looking for collage material and text - for me the language is similar in many ways but also different enough to be completely absorbing. Because there are often English words amongst the Danish, it's like having part of the instruction manual. I get a sense of what is being said, but don't understand the whole story. Which of course is a lot like my work. In this case, I saw the title 'Mod Mad Momsen' - it conjured up images of a little crazy guy and so that is what I drew. Karen later told me that 'Mod Mad Momsen' means 'VAT on Food'. :)

My Studio

 View from the door... room for one!

 Worksurface and shelving. There is a system.

 6 x 4" work in progress...

 More work in progress...

 Boxes of collage material...

 Shelving to fit A4 size work, handy for me as I work on multiple pieces rather than one at a time

 Paints, TV, radio, under there somewhere is a stereo...

 More work in progress...

 and more...

 I like to have either the radio (TalkSport generally) or a DVD playing (80's horror/sci-fi, Arrested Development, King of the Hill. I'm a bit of an US TV fan)

 A great big hefty table. Marvelous.

 Some cut-up text - cut from pages of novels. I scan through rather than following the story to find little poems or phrases amongst the prose...

 More boxes of collage material...

 No tips on brush care from me, I'm afraid...

Under the work surface, plenty of drawers for storage. And no floor covering - easy to sweep, little dust.

Road Trip to Denmark - Sketchbook

Some pages from a sketchbook I had with me when Karen and myself drove to Jægerspris, Denmark at Easter time this year (Karen doing the driving). I pre-prepared the book, it's actually two 7 x 5inch books made into one. Both had sporadic images throughout them, they were ripped out leaving a great surface to draw on. I used one Sharpie pen for the entire journey, it's a solid two days drive (or a ridiculously long one day if you're determined) so the pen eventually ran out, giving a wonderful variation of line and tone. I flicked from one page to the next, jotting text here and there but mostly just mark making, following the rhthym of the car and the road, dividing my attention between the book and the world outside the window.