Monday 3 November 2008

Old Drawings #21



Wall (Charcoal, compressed charcoal on A2 cartridge paper)

I've always been fascinated by walls, by their textures, by the way they show a history of changes, decay, repair. If I wanted to be pretentious, I might suggest they stand as a metaphor for the human condition, but I don't, so I won't.

This drawing probably dates from 1995 or thereabouts. I made one or two paintings at that time that were based on images of walls and relied heavily on applied texture. Come to think of it, "heavily" is quite apposite, given that they were made on board and had surfaces built up of cardboard, Polyfilla, wax, wallpaper, sand and pieces of brick.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm really drawn to this, Harry. I guess walls, textures etc. really speak to me.

Anonymous said...

I'm drawn to it too. It's like an illustration from a book and I want to read the book.

This is the wall of a cell and the prisoner has been in there for a very long time, I think. But what most intrigues me is what seems to be graffiti on the wall of the cliff. I wonder how it got there?

virtualjourney said...

Understand the fascination with both walls and texture. I once submitted a painting of the Hendon Halifax (lying on the lake bed) done in tile cement, artex and acrylics.
GAvA had never seen anything like it, and it took two of the blokes to lift it onto the wall. This one seems ... moody.

jafabrit said...

this is wonderful, all the values and textures make it a fab drawing. I will try to ignore your metaphor, but err, well it is a good one :)

well I am off to vote today, yeeaaaaaaaaa!

Anna said...

Rather a sinister drawing - it reminded me immediately of Hieronymous Bosch. Don't think I want to know what's behind that grille.

Anna said...

http://solomonsmusic.net/Bosch_LJ_Hell_Vienna.jpg

= Bosch link.

harry bell said...

I'm glad you all like it. Interesting that you should find it moody, as I was probably much more moody then myself.

Interesting, too, that both Simon and Anna should see the grill as being in some way human-sized. It never occurred to me to see it like that as I know, of course, that it's only an airbrick. Sorry if that dispells your illusions!

Joy Logan said...

LOVE this sketch!