Anna Finlayson: Working Drawings

Anna Finlayson: Working Drawings is the artist's fourth solo exhibition with the gallery. This suite of recent works on paper extends on previous bodies of work that rely on repeating gridded motifs, coupled with the accumulated numeric and textual annotations transcribed throughout the making process. The fine hand-ruled grids that underpin the drawings remain as a link to previous works, make reference to historical precedents, and function as a compositional framework from which the drawings emerge. In the working drawings grids begin to expand and morph, multiple layers of interlocking forms and structures overlap in a playful exploration of form and ground. A more overt referencing of historical precedents is explored and evidenced in the work.

Based in an observational approach to image making, working drawings present individual 'snapshots' of the daily experiences of making. As a body of work, the drawings depict the progression and development of the ideas at play in the work over a period of time. The titles of the individual works , for example 'Overlapping Square Forms', describe the various layers of imagery within the work, whilst also indicating the methodological approach to the practice as one that encompasses imagery derived from multiple sources including historical references, preparatory processes and the ongoing experience of drawing.