‘Snout, claw, tusk, paw’ combines my interests in drawing and mark-making, animals and the dynamics of play. On research trips to the zoo I found myself particularly drawn to specific parts of the animals – the extraordinarily long tufts on the red river hogs’ ears, the satisfying solidity of the tapir’s hoof, the chameleon’s dextrous twin-toed foot. This led me to both the show’s title and the idea of mixing up the body parts to create something new.
The giant cubes invite participation in the work: they can be stacked, sat on, squeezed, and rearranged to form new hybrid creatures and words. Children and adults alike are invited to play and have fun. While the colour palette is restricted to neutral tones with highlights of red, the different textures used - from ribbed cord to soft velvet, smooth satin to wiry whiskers - add to the sensory pleasure of handling the objects.
The sketches at the heart of the project are drawn variously from observation of real animals, from wildlife documentaries, and even from YouTube clips of people’s unusual pets. I aim to capture the essence of each animal in simple lines and enjoy exploration of texture using largely Indian ink with a variety of drawing implements - pen, brush, stick, feather (both ends), fingertip, rags... even a five-nibbed music pen. Some of these textures and lines can be seen in the limited edition, screen-printed alphabet poster.
Animals A-Z
Screenprint
Limited Edition of 35
Signed