Open Frequency
Open Frequency is a curated online programme presenting new developments in contemporary art. Selected artists are nominated by key curators, writers and artists from across the UK. Recently profiled Scotland-based artists include Katy Dove, Joanne Tatham and Tom O’Sullivan, Camilla Low, Toby Paterson and Hayley Tompkins.
Open Frequency is a programme area of Axis, the arts council funded leading online resource for the contemporary art community.
Paul Klee said, 'A line is a dot that went for a walk'. In the case of Alex Dunn's drawings he has taken himself for a walk with a 3B pencil. This is art characterised by control and restraint. Using only an ordinary grey graphite pencil and a sheet of paper, at no point does the artist allow an element of representation or emotion to creep into his work.
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Each line is surgically drawn at a certain tone; the next line is similar, then repeated, again and again. The drawings appear to be a gruelling exercise in disciplined self-control. Initially these works look like grey blocks, but as the viewer gets closer the lines become reminiscent of the grains in wood or the unique lines on a fingerprint. |
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With the hundreds upon thousands of painstaking lines, the final product becomes a result of a lengthy drawing process. The sometimes strict, geometric compositions of the work do not refer to something seen, but rather are of imaginary architectural and geometric structures. |
Within these blocks made up of a fragile line there is an additional element. 'Numbering the Days' (2007) is a piece that took place over an undefined time period. Each day is summarised by how many lines are created. The end of each day is tagged and dated like a diary entry. From this work the visual characteristics are that of a controlled drawing but the visual connotation becomes much more. The lines become meditative as the viewer loses themselves in their thoughts, as dates act as bullet points stimulating the viewer's memory.
A recent piece, 'Never Less' (2007), is just that - an illusion that has been constructed with acutely selected lines, controlled by how hard the pencil is pressed. Lighter lines define a circle within a rectangular block, but with incredible subtlety.
Dunn's drawings create an unusual paradox. Although they are clearly abstract and have no representation other than geometric shapes, he exercises an understanding of the classical forms of line, tone, structure, colour and composition that would be attributed to academic criteria but chooses to not depict any academic form.
It could be said that drawing is the foundation of all categories of visual art and without an understanding of the classical forms, you are insufficiently equipped to deal with the task of making art.
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Dunn's drawings, although not regarded in the classical sense of representation, clearly ask questions about humanity and the world that surrounds us.
Steven McKenzie, curator at An Tuireann, Portree, Isle of Skye |
Biography
Glasgow-born Alex Dunn moved to the Highlands of Scotland as a child and has lived there ever since. He studied Economic History at Aberdeen University and is now the part-owner, director and designer for Ardival Harps, makers of historical and traditional harps.
The abstract drawings began as designs for boxes which came out of Dunn's experimentation with native woods in order to make box sculptures in 2001, but they quickly took on a life of their own.
Dunn lives and works in Strathpeffer, Ross-shire, Scotland. | |