Completed Untitled Studies ['Deleuzian Cartography']

 

Untitled Study ['Deleuzian Cartography'], Paper Collage & Mixed Media on Paper,
300 mm x 300 mm, 2024

It had been my intention to spend the summer months trying to bring my ‘The Basin’ project closer to a resolution. Primarily, this would have involved a considerable amount of writing/re-writing, alongside the selection and editing of accompanying images from the vast archive of photos taken down in Bristol over the last year or two. However, ‘The best laid plans’, etc…

 

This & Following 14 Images: Sketchbook Study ['Deleuzian Cartography'],
Paper Collage & Mixed Media on Paper, 180 mm x 180 mm, 2024

The scarcity of posts on here lately suggests that perhaps I was a bit done with generating words for a while, without realising it. For someone so habitually verbose, it is also true that sometimes I just get sick of the sound of my own voice! And so the last few months actually became focussed on purely visual work - with no connection to Bristol at all in the event. Who knows what dictates these swerves? With no external expectations or deadlines to fulfil over any of this, I guess I should be grateful for the luxury of just being able to drift wherever the creative currents carry me - even if it means some  things can remain provisional for too long (drifting, in the psychogeographic sense is itself a likely theme of these tentative images). Anyway, as ever, the main thing is that work continues in whatever form. And having invested a lot of time, effort and travel expenses, I still feel committed to my Bristol-based project(s). I’m sure ‘The Basin’ will re-emerge as a live issue before long.

 

In the meantime, here are some indications of my most recent imagery, mostly in the form of experimental sketchbook studies - along with a few slightly larger pieces on paper. As can be seen, there is a degree of experimentation going on here, utilising many of my customary collage/mixed-media strategies in the attempt to reach-out towards some kind of fluid/intuitive alt-cartography. The intention  (such as one can be identified) is to chart the tension between organised territory, and the flights, flows and memories which may may re-dissolve the lines on the map (or calendar).

 

In addition to these starting points, a small number of more resolved panels have also resolved themselves to date. I’ll save those for another post soon, in the interests of being a little more communicative.

This & Following Image: Untitled Study ['Deleuzian Cartography'], Paper Collage &
Mixed Media on Paper, 300 mm x 300 mm, 2024