According to the Artists

The series: “Genesis Rags” are made from salvaged, torn up sheets and pillowcases, artist paint rags that had been used for many years — a byproduct, discarded and bundled up amongst the detritus of an artist’s studio. At first glance, they look like one abstract work; details become more evident upon further consideration. Each piece is assembled from 9 rag remnants, with each remnant containing abstract marks and traces of paint and colour. The rags have been washed, ironed, primed and meticulously stitched together. The historical significance of stitching elements together is of primary interest, echoing primitive techniques and a primal need to protect. 

The number 9 is a representative number for love, completeness, enlightenment and conveying messages. The “Genesis Rags” series highlights the incidental and accidental beauty obtained from an inconsequential byproduct of a creative art process. Each panel demonstrates its different wear and tear, wrinkles of age and wisdom. 

The fabric relics evidence history and contain transformative alchemical properties. By placing them into a new context for analysis and reconsideration, re-contextualising them, this process offers possibilities for metamorphosis and a new life. They harness the energy of their previous incarnation and transmute a base product into something worthy of contemplation. 

This piece: The group of smaller (IX-S) paintings maintain direct links to the various larger Genesis works. Containing smaller off-cuts of fabrics, these relics can be traced back, like a family tree, into larger paintings. For example: The top left panel in IX-S-A is from the large letter E panel in the construction IX-L-M.  No material is wasted, every scrap is precious and valued, recycled and a placed into a new whole. 

Many of the panels are marked with residual paint-wiped fingerprints, ghost traces of human interaction, along with remnants containing vestiges of blotted letters and dots. An artist’s DNA colour palette is evident through his or her rags, and can be linked directly back to individual artworks, encapsulating history, energy, and potency.