Marks in Space: Drawing and Sculptural Form

The curated exhibition 'Marks in Space: Drawing and Sculptural Form', Usher Gallery, July 2004, catalogue and essay "Drawing makes the locus’ was commissioned by the Usher Gallery, Lincoln.

This exhibition was curated with Professor Judith Mottram at Nottingham Trent University and explored drawing and sculptural practice, discursively positioning diverse concepts and convergences. The artworks were researched and located from the Arts Council Collection, Henry Moore Sculpture Trust, private collections and the artists.

It was important to investigate and present a contemporary range of processes and techniques including objects, works on paper, digital screen based work and video projection. Audience outreach and education programme accompanied this exhibition.

A residency was initiated that produced a site-specific drawing, conceived and executed in a public/private context. The UK Chinese artist Pak Keung Wan, an RCA graduate, living in Northampton was selected for performative qualities in his work in relation to the prominent Chinese community in Lincoln. His philosophic – ritualistic approach mirrored the diversity and intercultural values that are actively lived in the region.

Ayers exhibited a computer generated print from a rapid protyping process that had also generated a sculptural object along with works from artists such as Richard Deacon, Anya Gallacio, Liam Gillick, Dan Graham, Cornelia Parker and Richard Wilson.

The catalogue essay quotes Louise Bourgeois at the start ‘when the visible becomes tangible’ and sets the theme for the writing. Locus 1 to 6 is a series of passages where memory and journey are recalled in a way that illuminates the artists research into drawing, confronting, experiencing and being caught in the spotlight of moments of doubt and enthrallment when looking at drawings in different international locations and becoming immersed in the critical understanding of why drawing is the primary visual action of creativity as well as information and thought.

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