Drawn with both hands and the full sweep of the arms, the 

 drawings describe a moment of registered being, full of concentration and energy, requiring balance and attention. They celebrate the indexical trace that brings them into being.

Each drawing is a register of the gesture of the whole body through a point of a burin normally used in etching, held in one or both hands. A direct result of the body in balance, they are a kind of choreography for the hand-arm-brain, or traces of activity where I’m using my mind-body as a sensor. They’re almost like cardiograms or mental diagrams furnished by the body in a fluid state and also refer to the behaviour of water, whether rain or river.

 (2006), for example, indicate a release of energy. Following the physical rotation of the arm, they trace a spreading arc which loops in a wide circuit across the paper. Rather than being drawn, the fine lines are ‘carved’ by the burin point. Pigment carried by water is absorbed by the fresh cut, creating a darker line on a ground made of the same fluid. This activity exposes the weave of the paper from its pre-washed ground, and the technique is reminiscent of the carved lines made in the early stone sculptures such as 

The link between etching, drawing and carving becomes manifest, but in the drawings the results are unique. Line is liberated from inscription and the drawing becomes a registering of time as well as constituting a mark.

, 2008, carbon and casein on paper, 77 × 111 cm.

, 2010, carbon and casein on paper, 77 × 111 cm.

Systole/Diastole

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