‘Machine’ explores how the body and mind respond to alienation by envisaging an alternative world. The series consists of multiple ink drawings on 300gsm Somerset, BFK Rives, and cartridge paper, produced between 1986 and the 2000s. The examples shown here are presented in non-chronological order. Sizes range from 75 × 55 cm and 55 × 40 cm to 122 × 75 cm.
The ‘machine series began some time ago as a separate work category; the latest series of ink drawings, ‘Components’, inevitably overlaps with the current project, Hidden Kingdoms Shifting Worlds. ‘Components’ is a collective project comprising over 100 individual drawings, inspired by research in the labs with scientists and by conversations with fellow collaborator Dr Richard Daniel. The shapes are taken from stills of animated sequences in monochrome film studies of individual bacteria. They represent portraits or stages of its birth or evolution, like a foetal ultrasound. The figures mutate or evolve into amoebic states, transforming into other forms, forever mutating and evolving. Each drawing exists as an entity and as part of the overall collective. The ink drawings measure 32 x 51 cm.
