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Oceanic: Swell attempts to address our subconscious and conscious fears of the wild by evoking the sublime in nature. The viewer is positioned at the base of the ocean’s swell, at the mercy of the water, with waves threatening to break and swallow the viewer. Ideas of fear and vulnerability are also stimulated in the Swell series by eliminating context through the absence of horizon, land and depth in the image. This distorts our sense of size, scale and gravity and creates an infinite space in the piece so that we feel and reflect upon our size in the world. The perspective presented in the Swell series is in contrast to the intimate viewpoint presented by the Keyhole, Horizon and Surface series.Drawing, Fine Arts, Visual Arts2012 -
The Surface series reflect my interest in the physicality of water - studying shapes, formations and exploring how water moves and sculpts what we see on the skin of the ocean. Surface depicts the ocean in various times and weather conditions. This series explores the duality of the ocean, such as the way the surface can be both transparent and reflective - echoing life below the surface and above in the sky.Drawing, Fine Arts, Visual Arts2012 -
The Horizon series explores the infinity of nature by investigating the obscure point where the sky touches the sea. The presence or absence of a horizon stimulates ideas and questions and draws the viewer’s attention to the infinity of nature. Jay Appleton in The Experience of Landscape, discusses how contemplating the horizon directs attention:
‘particularly to speculation about what lies beyond it, and the horizon itself seems to be the key which
can provide the answer to such speculation’.
The Horizon pieces have an illusion of a certain depth, yet not a depth the viewer can move forward into - an obscure uninviting space. For instance, in figure 1 the horizon line is not defined, rather floats into an empty sky. The eye does not navigate the horizon easily and instead one is lost in the vast white sky, without cloud, star or life. The obscurity of this undefined horizon hopefully raises questions about the future of the dark, stirred waters beneath. The viewer cannot see clearly what is next and is left to contemplate their place in the scene, their place in nature, and hopefully their relationship to something beyond.Drawing, Fine Arts, Visual Arts2012 -
The motivation behind the Keyhole series is driven by the wonder and awe of the ocean and the fascination I have with the infinitesimal. The tiniest details - ripples on water, the texture of coral and the lives of micro-organisms, emphasise the possibility and enormity contained in the smallest of our environment’s elements. Life begins in the sea with millions of single celled microscopic plants called phytoplankton and through photosynthesis, they energise the entire ocean and support the ecosystems enriching all of our lives. These micro-organisms are fundamental to life and feature in the Keyhole series as tiny dots and lines -bubbling life into the pieces by moving the eye around and inviting the viewer to look deeper into the drawing and discover the beauty of the microscopic. Their fragility is emphasised by the contrast presented by the Swell series, depicting what at first glance is the enormity of the ocean as a whole, when in reality, the fragility of the microscopic is the vulnerability of the whole.
I use the term ‘keyhole’to capture a certain intimacy in the constrained view, a feeling of looking into something extraordinary yet private, a world rarely seen nor sought, yet flourishing and existing- an essential building block of life. The Keyhole series was inspiredby the plight of coral, lives of micro-organisms, and tiny interconnected (keyhole) worlds of the ocean.Drawing, Fine Arts, Visual Arts2012 -
Pencil on paper shell studies.Drawing, Fine Arts, Visual Arts2012 -
I am interested in ephemeral qualities in nature and subjects that sometimes seem impossible to study. Dark Skies is a series of works that I have been thinking about making for a long time. I feel that I still have a lot to explore and study in this area. I really enjoy building the surfaces of these pieces and the way in which the works evolve just as clouds do physically in the sky before your eyes. Slight tonal shifts dramatically change the character of the pieces which seem to hang in a balance of reality and abstraction.Drawing, Fine Arts, Visual Arts2012 -
Breathing Water explores the experience of being submerged in water, the vulnerability of not being able to breathe while being completely free to glide, tumble and float. Being in contact with water can be both overpowering and calming – experiences I explore in this body of work.Drawing, Fine Arts, Visual Arts2012 -
The surface of the ocean can be likened to our own skin, both are membranes; indicators and cloaks of what lies beneath, sensual to touch and observe. This series endeavours to foreground, the links between the surface of the ocean and the skin of the body. The two components through their shared characteristics make visual a socratic dialogue regarding the intertwined relationship between water and the body. I am also interested in motion, play of light and ambiguous form. The discourse is promulgated through a combination of these elements, as they create tension and move the eye around the drawings, establishing connections and rousing ideas about the discourse between body and water. Feelings of fear and vulnerability are stimulated by the uncomforting distortion of the figure, (dis)placed in an ambiguous dark space, which allegorises the depths of the ocean.Drawing, Fine Arts, Visual Arts2012 -
These drawings were made in response to my visit to Fowlers Gap.Drawing, Visual Arts, Fine Arts2012 -
Please contact Sophie E. Bray if you would like to purchase an artwork.Drawing, Fine Arts, Visual Arts2012