I start by drawing – by marking an outline with pencil on paper or directly by arranging small sticks. Usually I have got something in mind such as an idea of a space or shape – something like an area of land, the outline of a field or a flower bed or a room. The drawing is translated into thin sticks of wood sliced from a larger block of ash, oak or pine which then are filed and sanded and joined by metal pins and glue. After painting the object is often modified by simplifying - sections or lines are removed and the colour changed or adjusted before the object is waxed.
A simple visual language or code can describe or indicate something which can have multiple readings. A line or dotted lines can represent or indicate an edge or boundary or a route through a space that exists, has happened or is planned.
I am interested in creating works which have an ambiguity, uncertainty and tentativeness, and that have a slight fleeting quality but which are at the same time extant – hovering between movement and stillness.
David Blackaller, 2011
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