Hand Cut series 2009-10.

Exhibited in Casting and Weeding, 2010. Despard Gallery, Hobart.

The works from the Hand Cut series, explored the use of non-traditional materials and simple fabrication techniques to make colourful geometric abstract paintings. Within the conceptual framework of hybrid and interdisciplinary practice the work was aimed to question dominant art forms through the use of unconventional materials, the fabrication processes and through a rejection of traditional technical expertise as a fundamental indicator of artistic integrity.  

The source material for the works was a PVC film commonly used in the sign-writing industry. In its manufacture liquid vinyl is cast into thin sheets of workable plastic. Weeding is the sign writer’s process of peeling away unwanted areas of computer-cut vinyl prior to its application. The aluminium used as the support for the works suggests a connection to manufacturing plants and hardware suppliers. These vinyl artworks on aluminium are unconstrained by traditional frames or other conventions of painterly production and presentation, suggesting each is a kind of sign for a painting rather than an authentic painting in the traditional sense.

The cast PVC film – the palette for these paintings - was initially sourced as off-cuts from digitally produced signs, many of which were created for retail and fast food outlets. Specific colours suggest the corporate identities of a range of businesses - for example the pink colour used is reminiscent of the signage from a popular ice-cream franchise, and other colours suggest a range of consumer products from unleaded petrol to confectionary. In Casting and Weeding, the tacky plasticity of the adhesive vinyl refers to the synthetic quality of acrylic paint, and references mid 20th century Op and Pop Art paintings and acrylic painted works by numerous artists since. The choice of cast vinyl was seen as a critical alternative to both oil and acrylic paint as the medium for his paintings.

At close range the handmade quality of shapes, lines and pattern becomes apparent and this sits as a contrast to the industrial source of the materials used. The handmade gesture is evident in the exaggeratedly wonky scissor cuts and small, inconsistent nicks and scratches left by hand-trimming of the sign writing film on its aluminium support. These traces were aimed reveal the hand of the maker within the artwork as a way to shift the cast vinyl material from its original industrial context. The vinyl used in the works was not cut by machine, nor planned or designed using the digital software common to both visual arts and sign writing trades. Instead, intuitive combinations of colours were overlayed and then cut by hand, making subtle allusions to craft processes as well as to spontaneous decision-making as a signifier of an immediate and direct response to materials as the compositions were given form.

The titles of the works emphasise the hybrid nature of this inquiry, for example Hand Cut plays with the slogans of advertising, suggesting a measure of quality and care, specifically in the production of consumer commodities.  The works in the Casting and Weeding exhibition were aimed to prompt a wide range of responses, yet it is the primary intention that the works neither fit within either artistic or industrial contexts. 

Catalogue Statement, 2010.