About
Marks, repetition, obsession; three words which perfectly describe
the works. But these artists' work could not be more different.
Paul Lee is from Korea and his work has a delicate, contemplative,almost silent feel to it, as though it comes from somewhere else,
not here. Circles, and circles, and circles, thousands of tiny and perfectly formed, hand drawn circles spiral out from the centre of
the fine, smooth, delicate, brown paper. But then the spiralling movement of these monochrome circles is gently interrupted by
coloured circles which seamlessly interlock to form form rectangular fields of translucent colour. It is as if there are two
drawings, one lightly superimposed, like a veil, upon the other. These drawings are alive, there is constant movement in them, it is
contained, but not suppressed.
Rachel Pearcey lived for some years in Somerset and it is the big skies hanging over The Levels, and the sudden, small but
assertive hills which erupt from that landscape that inspired this series of six drawings. Fine lines delicately trace the large, simple
shapes while strong, short marks layer to build the forms. Then one of the hills rises gently into the sky. The drawings are rather
like a storyboard but one which may be read in any order. In spite of the strength of the marks there is great delicacy where the
graphite and the white space/sky/void meet. And how they both in turn heighten the creamy richness of the folded printing paper.
Hanna ten Doorkaatâs current work is about repetition and the pursuit of regularity. By setting out simple, yet strict, rules on the
how and the where her marks are made she hopes to impose order upon chaos. But the very act of imposing these rules almost
guarantees failure. And therein lies the paradox of her work; rules are made to be broken. Human frailty cannot be legislated
against; hands slip, attention wanders, I'm hot, I'm cold, I'm angry, I'm sad, all these things conspire to sabotage her quest to impose
order upon chaos. And this imperfection is, of course, that which gives such interest and delight to her work: each repeated mark, shape,
colour is different, every time; it may be done in the same way, with the same pen and with the same intent but it still comes out different.
She'll never win. But the evidence of her struggle these drawings - are mesmerising
