Perforated 3

West Leicester, March 2016

As a couple of previous posts demonstrate, I've had a certain visual attraction to 'Those Little Perforations' for some time.

West Leicester, March 2016

It's also the case that all-over repeat patterns have loomed pretty large in my visual sensibility, and indeed - my artwork, just recently.  Patterns of dots, alluding to either pierced surfaces, or printer's half-tone dots, have cropped up in numerous pieces for a while.  Grids and meshes seem to be coming increasingly to the fore too.  

West Leicester, March 2016

Anyway, these examples were all collected during a couple of routine journeys around Leicester and, beyond their purely visual interest, also tap into my abiding interests in both urban security measures, and graffiti, of course.

West Leicester, March 2016

West Leicester, March 2016

The raw metallic ones also make me think again about certain paintings by Jacqueline Humphries, - an artist whose work I've looked at a lot over recent months.  Not only has she also worked with grids and dot patterns on numerous occasions, but has also used metallic silver grounds beneath loose painterly marks, in some of her most notable paintings.

Jacqueline Humphries, 'O', Oil On Linen, 2015

Jacqueline Humphries, 'Alpha', Oil on Linen, 2014

Jacqueline Humphries, 'Alpha 4', Oil on Linen, 2014

This clearly introduces a whole new, fugitive element of visual sensation into any subject, making reflected light, and even the subtlest shift in viewpoint, an intrinsic part of the experience.  This was certainly what drew my eye to some of these subjects - perhaps as much as the familiar patterns they contain.  It's particularly true of certain of the graffiti-related pieces, involving the irregular, contorted surfaces of seriously battered security screens.  A couple of those illustrate how, in certain such situations, light and shadow reflecting from the nominal ground can modulate or even overwhelm what sits upon it.

Remaining Images: Central Leicester, April 2016

It's an interesting inversion, and one which, I suppose, could be categorised as a 'perceptual modifier'.  As such, perhaps they also relate to the reflections on window panes, and the shifting relationships between internal and external 'realities'  that can result.  Even the duller, plain metal examples here illustrate how subtle reflections can modulate and energise a seemingly inert industrial surface.

I suppose I'm mostly just musing out loud here really, or possibly making public - stuff which could just as easily reside within a private sketchbook.  Anyway, what does seem evident, is that certain perceptually fugitive phenomena seem to be of increasing interest to me, at the moment.